Ukraine's President Viktor Yushchenko on Monday described government grain export quotas as illogical and said he would intervene to correct the situation. The government, expecting a harvest smaller than last year's and below initial forecasts, introduced grain export quotas last month to restrict grain sales until the end of 2006.
Grain exports plunged in October. "I intend to intervene in this situation," he told Reuters in an interview. "We are forming yet another illogical situation on the grain market." He said the government should have used economic measures to secure a balance between supply and demand on the grain market and not resort to administrative measures.
Ambassadors from the United States, Germany and the Netherlands have expressed their concern over the quotas, saying they might damage Ukraine's investment climate and called for their speedy removal. "The main thing is for the government not to shoot itself in the foot," Yushchenko said. "We should not create a situation on the market when we have the same level of exports as before the ban was introduced."
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