Ukraine's grain export amounted to 1.7m mt, YTD 26.4m mt, down 11%

Ukraine's weekly volumes of grain declared for export amounted to 1.67 million mt in the week ending February 16, according to data from the country's State Customs Service.

Total grain exports for the marketing year that began on July 1 were listed at 26.47 million mt, including 2.8 million mt in February.

That puts the marketing year figure about 11% below last year's shipped volume of 29.9 million mt and February figure at 6% below February last year.

The volume of corn declared for export reached 990,000 mt in the reporting week, while the total corn volume exported since July 1 amounted to 14.59 million mt, about 15% lower year on year.

In particular, 1.6 million mt of Ukrainian corn was exported in February, which is 15% less than the same period of the previous year.

Spain maintained its leading position in February with 456,074 mt imported, followed by Egypt with 189,211 mt, China with 167,400 mt, Tunisia with 127,069 mt, the Netherlands with 99,351 mt, and Italy with 93,401 mt.

The main importers since the marketing season began in July have been Spain (3.3 million mt), Egypt (1.8 million mt), China (1.8 million mt), Italy (1.65 million mt), and the Netherlands (1.15 million mt).

As for wheat, Ukrainian exporters registered 480,000 mt to go abroad during the reporting week, which pushed the total volume of wheat exported since July 1 up to 10.3 million mt, 4% down year on year.

In particular, 1.1 million mt of wheat was exported in February, 14% more than 975,000 mt for the same period last year.

Pakistan was the main importer of Ukrainian wheat during February with 256,161 mt, closely followed by Pakistan with 242,610 mt, Egypt with 174,102 mt, Tunisia with 89,617 mt, and Turkey with 70,526 mt.

Spain (3.3 million mt), Romania (1 million mt), Egypt (788,700 mt), Pakistan (696,200 mt), and Turkey (615,100 mt) were the top five importers of Ukrainian wheat since the start of the season.

Finally, 89,000 mt of barley was declared for export during the reporting period, pushing the total since the beginning of the new marketing year to 1.5 million mt or 22% lower in annual terms.

In particular, 126,000 mt was recorded in February, 23% less than February 2023.

The key importers of Ukrainian barley during February were China with 67,980 mt, Algeria with 29,638 mt, Israel with 9,900 mt, and Turkey with 9,710 mt.

Since the beginning of the marketing season, China and Spain have accounted for more than half of total exports with about 400,000 mt each, followed by Romania with 198,500 mt. 

The data issued by Ukrainian customs authorities shows the goods that have been declared for export, but the figures do not always correspond to the volumes that physically left the country during the period.