Ukraine's wheat exports have reached 1.67 million tonnes so far in the 2012/13 season, or about 42 percent of the maximum export volumes agreed by the government and traders' unions, the Agriculture Ministry said on Friday. Ukraine's wheat harvest fell to 16.3 million tonnes bunker weight in 2012 from 22.3 million tonnes clean weight in 2011. Bunker weight usually exceeds clean weight by 5 to 7 percent.
Analysts and traders forecast the 2012 wheat crop at about 14 million tonnes in clean weight. The former Soviet republic consumes about 12 million tonnes of wheat per season. The ministry and grain traders' unions earlier this week agreed on 2012/13 maximum export volumes of 19.4 million tonnes of grain, including 4.0 million of wheat. Traders have said the government may limit wheat exports in early 2013 in a bid to prevent a jump in domestic grain prices after the wheat harvest declined this year.
They said a large part of the volume had already been sold abroad and the rest of the agreed tonnage might be shipped in the next two or three months, which could become a formal reason to impose export curbs. The ministry said Ukraine had exported a total of 3.76 million tonnes of grain so far this season, which runs from July to June.