India becomes largest importer of Ukrainian wheat since early 2016/17 agri-year

13:58, 26.12.2016 1 min read

India since early 2016/17 agricultural year (July-June) heads the rating of Ukrainian wheat importers, importing around 1.5 million tonnes of grain.

"From July to December India imported around 1.5 million tonnes, being the largest importer of Ukrainian wheat since early agricultural season," leading expert of the grain market of UkrAgroConsult Yelizaveta Malyshko told Interfax-Ukraine.

She said that the main reason of growth in purchase of wheat by India was the reduction of imports duty on wheat early season from 25% to 10% and in December 2016 it was set at a zero.

According to a report of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), in 2016/17 agri-year India could import around 3 million tonnes of wheat, while in 2015/16 agri-year imports totaled 300,000 tonnes and in 2014/15 agri-year – 270,000 tonnes.

Malyshko said that the top three leading importers of Ukrainian wheat is India, Thailand (1.4 million tonnes) and Indonesia (1.3 million tonnes).