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Ukraine eyes second place after US in grain export

Since July 2013 Ukraine had exported 2.3 million tons of grain of the new harvest out of 28 million tons which are to be exported

KIEV, August 15 (Itar-Tass) - As a result of the current marketing year (from July 2013 to June 2014) Ukraine is planning to reach the second place in the world after the United States by the volume of grain export, Nikolai Prisyazhnyuk, Ulrainian Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food, told journalists on Thursday.

He said that, according to Ukrainian experts' forecast, a record-high harvest of grain and its high quality will enable the country to rank third in the amounts of deliveries of corn to the external market, fourth in the export of barley, and sixth in the sale of wheat. "In the current marketing year, world trade in grain is expected to amount to 286 million tons," Prisyazhnyuk pointed out.

The Minister said Kiev intends to develop cooperation with such attractive regions which purchase grain on external markets as East Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa. "This year, East Asia plans to purchase 60 million tons of cereals, the Middle East to buy 40 million tons and North Africa -- 33 million tons," he said.

Prisyaznyuk said Wednesday that since July 2013 Ukraine had exported 2.3 million tons of grain of the new harvest out of 28 million tons which are to be exported. This accounts for a half of the predicted grain harvest amount of 57-58 million tons.

Vitaly Sabluk, Director of the Ministry's department for the economic development of the agrarian market, said the Ukrainian side is working to augment its share on the markets of North Africa and the Middle East where Ukraine traditionally supplies feed and forage grain and wheat. "Apart from the above regions, we also intend to export barley to Gulf countries. The forage group of commodities, corn, in particular, is actively working its way to the Asian region, to such countries, for example, as China, South Korea, and Japan. It is planned to enter markets in Bangladesh, Taiwan, and Indonesia," Sabluk said.

He drew attention to the high quality of Ukraine-produced grain. "Quality indicators as to grade and gluten are high and they will keep the domestic price somewhat higher as compared with those of grain from Europe or Asia," he added.

In 2012, Ukrainian agrarians threshed about 46.2 million tons of grain, which was 18.6% less than in 2011.They supplied 23 million tons of cereals to the external markets in the 2012-2013 marketing year, enabling Ukraine to rank seventh in the world by grain export.

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