November 20, 2006

Ukraine customs lift grain ban; ministry suspends licenses

Confusion over Ukraine's grain export continued Friday (Nov 17) as the state customs service announced it had lifted the ban imposed at the beginning of November, while the economy ministry suspended some export licenses and many traders said they couldn't export their contracted grain.

The customs service said some grain shipments are already leaving ports.

The export ban was imposed by the customs after a Kiev court decided Oct 31 that the 1.603 million tonnes grain export quota imposed by the government until the end of this year was illegal. Later the court suspended its decision and a further hearing is scheduled for Nov 20.