Agricultural Ministry to set 5 mln mt grain export quota

Ukraine’s Agriculture Ministry and grain traders agreed to implement a grain export quota of 5 mln mt to stabilize domestic market prices, which according to the market participants should be scaled back by 10-15% on average. This decision will be put on the agenda of today’s Cabinet of Ministers meeting, Kommersant reported this morning. Ruslan Patlavskyy: In our view, should the export quota be approved, it would serve as a another stimulus for global grain price growth as Ukraine ranked among the top five exporters of corn, wheat, barley and rye last year, according to USDA. This should prevent domestic grain producers from fully enjoying currently high prices for crops and is likely to create an internal oversupply of grain as the suggested 5 mln mt quota represents half of our forecasted grain volume available for export this year.