REUTERS
Egypt has traditionally topped the ranking since 2011.
Ukraine in 2019 exported record high 56.7 million tonnes of grain worth US$9.6 billion to Asian, African and European countries, while Turkey, Bangladesh and Israel entered the Top 10 importers of Ukrainian grain for the first time.
"A significant update of the Top 10 importers of Ukrainian grain was the last year's feature [for the Ukrainian economy], as Turkey, Bangladesh and Israel entered the ranking," the press service of the National Scientific Center "Institute of Agrarian Economics" said on February 24.
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Egypt has traditionally topped the ranking since 2011. Last year, its purchases of Ukrainian grain were estimated at US$1.3 billion, which was 97% up against 2018.
China ranked second in the Top 10 of Ukrainian grain importers, having boosted grain purchases by almost 56% against 2018, to US$859 million, while Spain ranked third with Ukrainian grain imports worth US$765 million (19% up year-on-year).
"Turkey became the absolute newcomer to the Top 10 ranking, having imported Ukrainian grain worth US$718 million last year, accounting for 7.5% of total grain exports. For comparison: Ukraine's shipments to Turkey in 2018 totaled US$184 million," the report said.
Bangladesh also got into the Top 10, having bought Ukrainian grain worth US$421 million, while purchases by Israel totaled US$317 million, those by the Netherlands were estimated at US$624 million, by Indonesia at US$538 million, Tunisia at US$293 million, and Italy at US$283 million.
In total, the said countries accounted for more than 63% of the total grain exports in monetary terms.
As UNIAN reported earlier, Ukrainian farmers harvested 75 million tonnes of grain in 2019, of which 54 million tonnes will be exported to foreign markets in the 2019-2020 marketing year (MY, July 2019 - June 2020), according to Ukraine's Ministry for Development of Economy, Trade and Agriculture.
As of February 20, Ukrainian agribusinesses exported 39 million tonnes of grain, or three-quarters of all exports projected for the current marketing year.
The yield of grain in Ukraine was 70.1 million tonnes in 2018.