Ukraine cuts grain exports by 12% in Jan-Sept – expert

Ukraine in January-September 2018 cut grain exports by 12% year-over-year (y-o-y), to 28 million tonnes worth US$4.8 billion.

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"In January-September 2018, exports of domestic grain decreased compared to last year's figures over the same period by almost 12%, to 28 million tonnes. At the same time, the amount of the shipments fell only by 2%, to $4.8 billion," the press service of the National Scientific Center "Institute of Agrarian Economy" said, referring to its deputy director Mykola Pugachov.

In particular, 11.2 million tonnes of wheat worth $2 billion was shipped abroad over the period under review, while farmers exported 13.7 million tonnes of maize ($2.3 billion) and 2.5 million tonnes of barley ($0.5 billion), the expert said.

At the same time, Asian, African and European countries remain the major buyers of Ukrainian grain in 2018. Thus, Egypt was in the lead, accounting for 11.5% of Ukraine's total grain exports in monetary terms over the period under review.

In addition, Ukrainian grain exports to China, Spain, the Netherlands, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, and Italy, accounted for 8.8%, 7.3%, 7%, 5.9%, 5.7%, and 5%, respectively. The expert says that together with Tunisia, Israel and the Philippines, the said countries generate more than two-thirds of Ukraine's revenue from grain exports.

As UNIAN reported earlier, citing preliminary data, agrarians exported 39.4 million tonnes of grain in 2017-2018 MY.

Ukraine in 2018-2019 MY may boost grain exports to 52.5 million tonnes, according to the Ukrainian Grain Association.