EU may provide Ukraine with collapsible silos, bags for grain - AgMin

MOSCOW. June 15 (Interfax) - The governments of EU countries will consider providing Ukraine with temporary grain storage capacity in the form of collapsible modular silos and large polyethylene bags to help preserve the harvest and further ensure grain supply to global markets, Deputy Ukrainian Agrarian Policy and Food Minister Markiyan Dmytrasevych said.

The Ukrainian media quoted him as saying that this might solve the problem caused by the reduction in the capacity for storing agricultural crops in Ukraine from 75 million tonnes to 60 tonnes at any one time.

EU assistance with the construction of a phyto-sanitary and veterinary laboratory at the Danube port of Izmail, Odesa region, and an increase in laboratory equipment at Ukrainian border checkpoints would speed up exports of Ukrainian produce. Ukraine has already lodged a request with the European Commission.

"Following a meeting of the EU Agriculture and Fisheries Council, Dmytrasevych said that a European delegation would visit border checkpoints next week to assess the situation with checks and further reduce red tape at borders when exporting Ukrainian agricultural produce," the Agrarian Policy Ministry said.

Ukrainian First Deputy Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food Taras Vysotskiy, in turn, said that Ukraine hopes that its Black Sea ports will be unblocked and agricultural exports will resume through them, but, at the same time, is preparing additional capacity to store agricultural crops.

"Bearing in mind the carryovers from last year and this year's harvest forecast, there could be a shortage [of elevator capacity] within 10 million-15 million tones. Therefore, as Plan B for the storage of grain in the absence of the possibility to promptly export it, mobile elevator banks and sleeves are being delivered in order to have potential backup equipment to store these extra tonnes," the Ukrainian media quoted Vysotskiy as telling the Rada television channel.