This marketing year (July 2013 – June 2014) Ukraine could export a record amount of grain that will allow it to become the second or third largest exporter of grain in the world, President of the Ukrainian Grain Association (UGA) Volodymyr Klymenko announced this at a press conference in Kyiv on Tuesday.

“Ukraine consumes 26-27 million tons of grain, so anything above that figure we will have to export. We expect a record, for all the years of independence, exports in the 2013-2014 season. Ukraine will take at least third place on the supply of grain for export, and probably, second, if everything is OK with corn,” the expert said.

According to Klymenko, Ukraine this year will bring the highest since independence grain crop – 57 million tons (a record harvest in Ukraine was in 2011, amounting to 56.7 million tons).

The expert recalled that the market participants and the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food signed a memorandum defining the conditions of the grain market’s operation this season. “Previously it has been assumed that the document would identify potential exports. However, due to an expected record harvest of grain, this is not necessary,” the UGA chief emphasized.

Klymenko added that currently the world’s No.1 grain exporters are the United States, followed by Argentina and Ukraine.

Ukrinform