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Russia and Kazakhstan are the main suppliers of buckwheat to Ukraine.
Buckwheat imports in Ukraine in the 2017/18 marketing year (MY, July 2017-June 2018) may reach 16,000 tonnes, which is 2.6 times up from the previous year.
"In general, Ukraine in August-June of the 2017/18 MY imported 2.6 times more buckwheat than for the whole past season. According to the results of the [current] season, the figure may exceed 16,000 tonnes," APK-Inform agency's press service said.
According to the agency's analysts, in the period from August to January of the 2017/18 MY, a total of 6,800 tonnes of Russian buckwheat was imported to Ukraine, which exceeded the past season's figure by 12 times. Buckwheat imports from Kazakhstan over this period were estimated at 2,600 tonnes, which was 5 times up from August-January in the 2016/17 MY.
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Taking into account the fact that in the previous MY, 65% of buckwheat was delivered in the past three months of the season (2,700 tonnes in May 2017 alone), now the difference between the 2016/17 MY and 2017/18 MY declined. In August-May of the 2017/18 MY, Russia increased buckwheat shipments to Ukraine by 2.4 times, while Kazakhstan boosted the imports by 4.4 times. At the same time, Ukraine practically does not import buckwheat from the EU countries in the current season.
As UNIAN reported earlier, Ukrainian farmers in 2017 harvested 180,000 tonnes of buckwheat with a yield of 0.98 tonnes per hectare.