News
29.08.2011
Grain market: Russia - Ukraine 5:1
Since the beginning of a new season, the volume of Russian grain export is almost five times higher than the volume of grain shipments from Ukraine. During July and August the Russian Federation has shipped about 4.4 million tons of grain to foreign markets, while Ukraine has exported only 0.9 million tons.
According to words of expert of the Association "Ukrainian agribusiness club" (UCAB), a pace of grain export from Ukraine is almost 4 times lower than usual. In addition, there are fears that farmers will not have enough capacity to store grain, because its harvest is expected to reach 47 million tons. "If we take into account the fact that the current grain harvest should be the second largest in independent Ukraine, with insufficient pace of export, farmers simply will not have the place for its storing," - says Roman Slaston, expert of agricultural markets, UCAB.
"The reason of such "achievements" is grain export taxes, which make Ukrainian grain uncompetitive in the world market. As a result, those countries which earlier imported Ukrainian grain, now buy it from Russia. Our growers have only two alternatives: either to see how money goes to the Russian farmers and wait for the taxes cancellation, or to sell grain at a lower price with a loss, "- said Mr. Slaston.
Export taxes on grain were introduced by the Law of Ukraine "About Amendments to the Tax Code and the rates of export duties on certain types of crops", which came into force on the 1st of July. This Law introduced a duty on wheat export at the rate of 9% but not less than 17 Euros per ton, on corn - 12% but not less than 20 Euros per tonne and on barley - 14% but not less than 23 Euros per tonne for the period till the 1st of January, 2012.
