KIEV: Ukrainian grain exports fell to 2.18 million tonnes in December 2011 from 2.29 million in November, analyst UkrAgroConsult said on Tuesday.
The consultancy said the volume included 1.783 million tonnes of maize.
"Ukraine has exported 4.203 million tonnes of maize since the season's beginning (October-December) compared to 1.404 million at the same time last year. As before, the main export destinations were North Africa, the EU and the Middle East," the consultancy said.
Ukraine harvested a record 22.8 million tonnes of maize in 2011 and Farm Minister Mykola Prysyazhnyuk has said the former Soviet republic could export about 12 million tonnes of the commodity this season.
Ukraine exported 5.1 million tonnes of maize in 2010/11.
Prysyazhnyuk said last week farmers were likely to increase the area under maize by 700,000 hectares in 2012, targeting a total area of 4.3 million hectares.
He said the higher sowing area could compensate for the loss of winter grains.
About 2.3 million hectares of Ukrainian winter grain crops, or 33.5 percent of the sprouted area of 7.0 million hectares, were in poor condition as of mid-January due to a severe drought that hit the country during sowing.
Winter wheat dominated the damaged area.
Prysyazhnyuk told Reuters this month that the 2012 grain harvest could fall to 44-46 million tonnes because of a sharp decrease in wheat production to about 12 million tonnes from 22.3 million in 2010.
Ukrainian weather forecasters said this week they expected no forthcoming damage to crops despite severe frosts expected late this week.
Forecasters said that recent snowfalls would protect Ukrainian winter grain crops as almost all Ukrainian fields were covered by 5 to 30 centimeters of fresh snow.
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