Miller Magazine Issue: 120 December 2019

18 MILLER / DECEMBER 2019 Sergey Feofilov Director General UkrAgroConsult, Ukraine Ukraine: Aiding the global wheat market to overcome uncertainty Guest Author “This season’s combined export potential of Russia and Ukraine is up 5% year-on-year, at almost 100 MMT. At the same time, Ukraine will step up export of wheat, Russia will increase that of corn, while both countries feature a substantial rise in their exportable supplies of barley.” Turkey is one of the most important destinations for grain deliveries from Russia and Ukraine. In July-Octo- ber 2019, Turkey absorbed 23% of Russian export grains and 6% of Ukrainian ones. The active development of the Turkish livestock sector fuels growth in demand for coarse grains. In October, Turkey purchased a record monthly volume of Ukrainian barley (199 KMT), and thereby pushed aside its top importers – the EU, Saudi Arabia and China. Such a rush can be explained by the desire to replenish stocks in advance, while sufficient supply at an attractive price is available in the world market. Ukraine has exported a total 206 KMT of barley to Tur- key this season. It was just in 2014 when Turkey bought that much last time. Apart from barley, Turkey actively imported corn and wheat this season. In the Turkish market, Russian grains successfully com- pete with their counterparts from Ukraine. Obviously, Turkey intensified purchases of all grains in the beginning of MY 2019/20. Overall, Turkish importers will likely buy more feed crops this season than they did in MY 2018/19. Noteworthy is that this season’s combined export po- tential of Russia and Ukraine is up 5% year-on-year, at almost 100 MMT. At the same time, Ukraine will step up export of wheat, Russia will increase that of corn, while both countries feature a substantial rise in their exportab- le supplies of barley. An important point for realizing the region’s export po- tential is logistics, which was the weakest link in the grain