Ukraine grain exports beat 42 mln tonnes mark

Since the beginning of the current marketing year (MY, July 2020 - June 2021), Ukrainian agrarians have exported 42.29 million tonnes of grain as of June 2, or 93% of the forecast released by the Ministry of Economy (45.42 million tonnes).

That's according to the newly-established Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food.

At the same time, export volumes lag behind last year's – in 2020, by early June, farmers had exported 12 million tonnes more grain from the record-high 2019 harvest (over 75 million tonnes).

Read alsoUkraine, China hold online forum to boost agritradeIn particular, Ukraine exported 15.9 million tonnes of wheat, 4.1 million tonnes of barley, 21.4 million tonnes of corn, and 4,600 tonnes of rye.

In addition, Ukraine exported 111,600 tonnes of wheat flour and other crops, which is 203,100 tonnes below last marketing year's level.

Note that the export of grain and oilseeds with their processed products brings Ukraine about $16 billion annually, while all agricultural exports bring more than 40% of the country's foreign exchange earnings.

As UNIAN reported earlier, the Ministry of Economy forecasts grain exports in the current marketing year at 45.42 million tonnes, which is 20.5% less than in the previous MY (57.2 million tonnes).

Ukrainian Grain Association forecasts grain exports at 46.8 million tonnes.

Ukraine continues to reduce grain exports in the current season due to the low 2020 harvest, which amounted to 65.4 million tonnes of grain, almost 7 million tonnes less than a year earlier.