Business news from Ukraine

UKRAINE SHOULD REGULATE ITS ROLE IN GRAIN GLOBAL MARKET

Ukraine should regulate its role in the issue of grain policy in global markets, in particular, it concerns phytosanitary issues, new approaches to the use of pesticides and issues of traceability of grain origin, the Ministry of Economy said on Wednesday.
“Usually we adopt EU policy and implement it in Ukraine, including trade issues. But this is not always necessary. We shall develop our own position. In particular, my task, as chairing the International Grains Council, is to attract attention of global markets to the grain policy of Ukraine,” Trade Representative of Ukraine Taras Kachka said.
The Ministry of Economy said that on June 8 Kachka met with GAFTA Director General Jaine Chisholm Caunt and members of the organization’s council to discuss possible cooperation between Ukraine and the International Grains Council and GAFTA. The ministry called this meeting especially relevant on the eve of the beginning of Ukraine’s chairmanship in the International Grains Council.
“It is important to deepen the dialog between trade institutions, such as the International Grains Council, GAFTA, WTO, because finding a balance in international trade is directly related to ensuring global food security. We see more and more ties between the business community of Ukraine and international trade institutions and consider the development of this dialogue is key in our trade policy,” Kachka said.
The Ministry of Economy recalled that GAFTA (Grain and Feed Trade Association) is an international trade association headquartered in London, consisting of grain traders, brokers and other specialists in the international grain trade. Founded on November 17, 1871 it has over 1,900 members in 100 countries.

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AGRARIANS’ DEFAULTS ON FORWARD CONTRACTS LEAD TO BILLIONS OF LOSSES IN GRAIN MARKET – UGA

Unscrupulous agricultural producers, amid a low harvest, are trying to disrupt the previously concluded forward contracts for the supply of grain, which could collapse the grain market of Ukraine and provoke disastrous results both for the agricultural sector and for the country’s economy as a whole already in the current marketing year, Ukrainian Grain Association (UGA) President Mykola Horbachev believes.
“Today, many unscrupulous producers, seeing an increase of market prices, want to refuse to fulfill the previously concluded contracts, in fact to make a default. And we are not talking about those agrarians who lost crops due to drought or other weather disasters, but those who had good harvest,” he explained in an exclusive commentary to the Interfax-Ukraine agency.
Because of this, Ukraine may lose a source of about $11-12 billion to finance the agricultural sector, he said.
Horbachev also said that companies that did not suffer from drought in some regions of the country are trying not to fulfill the previously signed contracts for the supply of grain, aiming to get excess profits at the expense of counterparties. Such unfair actions will inevitably lead to both economic and reputational losses for the entire economy of the country.
According to the UGA assessment, in the spring, the agrarians contracted about 6 million tonnes of maize of the current harvest on forward contracts at a price of $150-160 per tonne, thus receiving financing for the sowing campaign.

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