Ukraine's grain exports totalled 400,000 tonnes in the first 13 days of October or just a half of the export volume in the same period in September, the Ukrainian Agrarian Confederation said on Friday. Ukraine's parliament last week cancelled export duties for wheat and maize but kept in place the levy on exports of barley.
The law needs to be signed by president Victor Yanukovich and published to come into force and the UAC said the new trade regime could allow the market to revive. "The absence of the final decision on cancelling grain export duty is the main reason for the small export," the confederation quoted its director Serhiy Stoyanov as saying.
According to UkrAgroConsult agriculture consultancy, Ukrainian soft milling wheat is on offer at $235-$238 per tonne FOB Black Sea. Feed wheat costs between $220 and $225 per tonne FOB, while maize is traded at $248-$250 FOB. The former Soviet republic imposed the duties in July and traders have said the measure slashed Ukrainian exports as Ukrainian-origin grain could not compete with cheaper Russian grains.
Russia offers its milling wheat at $230-$238 per tonne FOB Black Sea and $197 per tonne FOB Azov Sea, according to UkrAgroConsult. Ukraine expects its grain harvest to rise to 50-53 million tonnes in 2011 after drought restricted the harvest to 39.2 million tonnes in 2010. It also plans to increase grain exports to 24-25 million tonnes this season from 12.7 million in 2010/11. But Farm Minister Mykola Prysyazhnyuk has said the existing export duties have raised doubts shipments could reach those levels.