Ukraine wheat exports fall in January, India top buyer

KIEV: Ukraine's January wheat exports fell by around 14 percent to 1.2 million tonnes and most of it went to India, consultancy UkrAgroConsult said on Wednesday.

India, a major importer of Ukrainian wheat this season, consumed 780,000 tonnes or 64 percent of Ukraine's wheat exports last month, the consultancy said in a report.

"Taking into account wheat cargoes intended for February delivery to India, the seasonal total of Ukrainian wheat shipments to the country already reached 3 million tonnes," it said.

Ukrainian wheat exports in the first seven months of the current season, which runs from July to June, are up 16 percent from the previous season at 12.72 million tonnes.

Ukraine exported 10.99 million tonnes of wheat in the same period in 2015/16.

Traders have said Ukraine is likely to export 15 to 16 million tonnes of wheat this season versus around 17 million in the previous season.