BELOKURIKHA /Altai Region/, February 29. /TASS/. Around 30 mln tons of corn and 17 mln tons of grain may be exported from Ukraine, which is almost twice as much as the US initially suggested, General Director of the Institute for Agricultural Market Studies (IKAR) Dmitry Rylko said.

"The US Department of Agriculture expected in May that 18.8 mln [tons] of corn would be exported from Ukraine in its current borders while now it expects 25 [mln tons], though we expect it to be up to 30 [mln tons]. It expected 10 [mln tons] of wheat to be exported, now it expects 15 [mln tons], while we believe that Ukraine can well export 17 [mln tons]," he told a conference.

Earlier reports said that grain supplies to Europe sparked farmers’ protests in countries bordering Ukraine. In particular, on February 9, Polish farmers started large-scale protests and blocked checkpoints at the border with Ukraine. They called for limiting or fully banning the supply of cheap agricultural products from Ukraine and beefing up support for national animal production among other things.