Ukraine anticipates higher feed grain exports

“We plan to sign the memorandum in the coming months,” minister Mykola Prysyazhnyuk said in the recent statement.

Last September, the ministry and traders’ unions agreed on 2012-13 maximum export volumes, after a drought and a spike in foreign demand threatened to leave Ukraine without enough grain for domestic consumption.

Worried about a potential deficit, the government forced traders to limit wheat exports to 5.5 million tonnes in the 2012-13 season, although it later rose to 6.3 million tonnes.

Although there is no such threat on the horizon this season, given a much higher expected harvest, market players say that keeping the limits at the current level will allow the government to keep the domestic prices for feed low.

Also having limits in place would allow the government to react quickly to any changes in market conditions and mitigate risks of sharp increases in domestic prices, but the increase of export supply will also benefit for the country which has recently signed a number of contracts for the first shipments of corn to China.

The Agriculture Ministry sees this year’s grain harvest at no less than 50 million tonnes compared with 46.2 million tonnes in 2012. Agriculture analysts put output at 53 million to 55 million tonnes in 2013.