Miller Magazine Issue: 144 December 2021

72 INTERVIEW MILLER / december 2021 Arina Korchmaryova is a leading international expert on agri-food product quality and safety, a dynamic par- ticipant and speaker at international conferences (more than 30+ speeches in 10+ countries across the world), and author of over 50 publications in agri\business media. Arina is also a consultant of the FAO on inter- national best practices and projects, an organizer and speaker at specialized training and seminars (for both the public and private sector), and producer of tours to assess the quality and safety of crops. Since 2014, Arina is the head of Cotecna Inspection’s business group for the Baltic and the Black Sea markets. She answered our questions on Black Sea wheat quality. Here is the interview with Arina Korchmaryova, BSc Chemistry and Biotechnology, MBA, Harvard Busi- ness School AMP, Vice President of the Cotecna Group for the Baltic and Black Seas market. What can you say about Ukrainian wheat quality in the current season? About 2 months ago I received lots of questions about wheat quality in the region as there were many concerns about quality, especially of Ukrainian wheat. There were talks that the quantity of Ukrainian wheat would be great but the quality might decrease. From what we see now I may say we are in general satisfied with the quality. We see a very good protein level in Ukrainian wheat, as we see average levels at close to 12,5%. I would like to men- tion that 3 years ago we had almost never seen 13% pro- tein content in wheat in Ukraine and 5 years ago Ukraine was known as a feed wheat exporter. Now Ukraine is catching up with Russia, becoming an exporter of milling wheat, and there are more and more destinations where Ukrainian milling wheat is competing with it. In general, the new crop wheat quality in Ukraine is good. However, due to different levels of pre- cipitation across the country (for example, in the south, there was traditionally less rain than in other regions), the quality of wheat from different regions may be heterogeneous. For the current moment, we see the test weight a bit lower compared to last year. The main rea- son is that at the last stages of grain ripening in some regions of Ukraine, the temperature reached above +30 C degrees, which negatively affected the quality of wheat since such a tem- perature causes intense evaporation. The matter is that a root system at this stage of ripening is already very weak and, as a result, it does not “Five years ago Ukraine was known as a feed wheat exporter. Now Ukraine is catching up with Russia, becoming an exporter of milling wheat, and there are more and more destinations where Ukrainian milling wheat is competing with it.” Ukraine is progressing from a feed wheat exporter to a milling wheat supplier Arina Korchmaryova Vice President of the Cotecna Group for the Baltic and Black Sea market Interview: Namık Kemal Parlak