According to the August estimations of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine, in the current year the production of grain crops will reach 58.5 mln tonnes, down 7% compared with the previous season volumes, declared Oksana Makarchuk, Deputy Chief of the markets development department of the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine, on September 9 during her speech within the First round of the V Ukrainian Grain Congress in Paris.
At the same time, the general grain harvest in 2014 is expected to grow by 17% compared with the average index for Ukraine during 5 recent years. In particular, wheat will form 21 mln tonnes of the general volumes of harvested grains, barley - 7.9 mln tonnes, maize - 27.8 mln tonnes, said the expert.
As for the domestic consumption of grains in Ukraine, O.Makarchuk noted that in 2014/15 MY the index is expected to reach 27.3 mln tonnes.
In particular, the food consumption will total 6.3 mln tonnes, feed consumption - 15.7 mln tonnes, seeds - 2.8 mln tonnes, industrial processing - 1.4 mln tonnes. Grain losses are estimated at 1.2 mln tonnes, she said.
As for the export potential of grains in 2014/15 MY, O.Makarchuk rated the index at 32.3 mln tonnes (taking into account the complete covering of the domestic needs, and the ending stocks at the end of the season at the level of 7.5 mln tonnes).
In particular, in the current MY Ukraine can export 9 mln tonnes of wheat, 3.1 mln tonnes of barley, and 20 mln tonnes of maize, the expert concluded.
