Alexander Pavlenko: reserve of grain for food amounts to 6.5 million tons
As of January 1, the supply of wheat in Ukraine totaled to 6.5 million tons. In the meantime, domestic consumption during January-February was about 2.7 million tons. Therefore, not only Ukraine has sufficient grain stock to satisfy its domestic demand, but also has considerable potential for export and formation of carryover stocks for the next marketing year.
This was announced by Alexander Pavlenko, the Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine, during his interview with «Bloomberg» news agency.
Also, according to the Minister, in the past three years Ukraine has been constantly increasing its grain harvests. «This year, Ukraine plans to ship 5.5-5.7 million tons of grain to China. Also, is in process of negotiation with the EU countries to increase its exports to international markets, »- said Minister Pavlenko.
Reference: As of January 1, in Ukraine available grain stocks amounted to 38.8 million tons, including wheat — 13 million tons, corn- 20.2 million tons, barley — 3.8 million tons. Consumption of grain on domestic market during January-June of this year is expected to reach 13.1 million tons, of which wheat (including wheat for feed) — about 5 million tons, barley- 2.4 million tons, corn- 4.7 million tons. During January-June export potential of the national grain market is about 19 million tons of grain. Such market potential is equivalent to $4.4 billion, which will be collected in the first half of 2015.