Ukraine has signed a pledge to give the world grain market two months notice of any planned restrictions on its grain exports, the agricultural ministry has said. The former Soviet republic, a major world exporter of barley and wheat, rattled world markets in 2010 by bringing in quotas to ensure adequate food supplies at home after the grain harvest was hit by frosts and then drought.
Coming on top of a grain export ban by Russia that same season, the Ukrainian quotas triggered price volatility in which global wheat prices shot up to two-year highs. In a statement issued late on Tuesday, the Ukrainian agricultural ministry said it had signed a memorandum with tr ading organisations "w ith the aim of ensuring a stable situation on the grain market in the 2012/13 marketing season".
It quoted Agricultural Minister Mykola Prysyazhnyuk as saying the ministry would give market participants two months' notice of any planned grain export restrictions. It defended its action to protect domestic stocks of grain in 2010, but quoted Prysyazhnyuk as saying: "Now to avoid significant losses (to traders), we will give notice of any limitations." Apart from the grain export quotas in the 2010/11 season, Ukraine also introduced grain export duties in the first four months of the 2011/12 season, further reducing exports.
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