Ukraine grain exports reach 38.8 mln tonnes

Ukraine’s grain exports for the 2022/23 season were at 38.8 million tonnes as of April 10, informed Agriculture Ministry on Monday.

The ministry gave no exact comparative data for the same date a year ago but said Ukraine had exported 45.3 million tonnes of grain as of April 15, 2022.

The volume so far in the current July-to-June season included about 13.3 million tonnes of wheat, 22.8 million tonnes of corn and 2.31 million tonnes of barley.

The ministry said grain exports during April were 848,000 tonnes as of April 10.

After an almost six-month blockade caused by Russia’s invasion, access to three Ukrainian Black Sea ports was cleared at the end of July under a deal between Moscow and Kyiv brokered by the United Nations and Turkey.

A major grain grower and exporter, Ukraine’s grain output is likely to have dropped to about 53 million tonnes in clean weight in the 2022 calendar year from a record 86 million tonnes in 2021.

Officials have blamed the fall on hostilities in the country’s eastern, northern and southern regions.

The government has said Ukraine can harvest 44.3 million tones of grain, including 16.6 million tonnes of wheat, in 2023.