Grain exports from Ukraine reach record 5.8 mln tonnes in Feb 2024 - analyst

MOSCOW. March 1 (Interfax) - Grain exports from Ukraine reached 5.8 million tonnes in February 2024, compared to 5.5 million tonnes in January, setting a record over the period of the crisis, Ukrainian media said with reference to Alexei Blinov, former head of the Sense Bank analytical department.

The previous record of 5.7 million tonnes was seen in March 2023, following 5.3 million tonnes in February 2023, when the Black Sea Grain Initiative was in effect, Blinov said.

In the three months following March 2023, grain exports from Ukraine declined under 4 million tonnes. After the termination of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, those exports further dropped under 2 million tonnes in July 2023, and only when Kiev unilaterally declared the sea shipping corridor, they again topped 4 million tonnes in September 2023.

In the first eight months of the 2023/24 marketing year, Ukraine exported 29.7 million tonnes of grain, and another 12 million to 15 million tonnes is available for export by the end of this marketing year, Blinov said.

As reported, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) in February increased its forecast for wheat exports from Ukraine in the 2023/24 marketing year by 1 million tonnes to 15 million tonnes, and those of feed grain by 2.2 million tonnes to 25.37 million tonnes.