Ukraine may replace grain export quotas with duties

Ukraine may replace its current grain export quotas with export duties in a bid to make shipment procedures more transparent, analyst UkrAgroConsult said on Friday. "This was stated by a presidential official after trade organisations... international financial organisations, including the IMF, had repeatedly addressed the authorities criticising them for the government policy on grain exports," UkrAgroConsult said in a report.
Government authorities were unavailable for comment. Ukraine introduced grain export quotas in October to prevent a rise in domestic bread prices. The initial quotas allowed exports of 2.7 million tonnes grain but in December the government increased the total volume to 4.2 million tonnes. But traders have said quota allocation procedures were unfair and not transparent and many of them had failed to obtain any quotas.