President Viktor Yushchenko demanded urgent moves from Ukraine's government on Friday to resume stalled grain exports, saying blockages could create tensions with importing countries.
"This could create unpredictable consequences, a serious slowdown in the integration of the Ukrainian economy with tensions emerging in relations with countries importing Ukrainian grain and the loss of traditional markets," the president's press service said in a statement.
The government introduced grain export quotas of 1.6 million tonnes for 2006 with the aim of keeping down prices after cutting its forecast for the year's harvest already lower than last year's figure to 35.1 million tonnes.
But despite issuing and distributing quotas, grain sales have been blocked since November 2 as a result of prolonged confusion over the legality of shipments under the quota system.
Ukraine's Customs Service said on Thursday it had begun issuing authorisations for grain exports, but some traders said they had received no word of any approval. Western ambassadors have urged the government to rescind the quotas, saying they could hurt Ukraine's bid to join the World Trade Organisation.
Yushchenko said vessels with 200,000 tonnes of grain remained stuck in ports, with a further 1.4 million tonnes waiting to be loaded. "This situation causes serious concern in the international community in terms of the predictability of decisions taken by Ukrainian authorities," the statement said.
Some grain traders this week said they had suspended all investment projects in Ukraine. Yushchenko reluctantly appointed Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich, his archival, as Prime Minister in August after electoral setbacks and has repeatedly criticised the actions of the government.
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