Traders ready to buy 300,000 t of wheat from Agrarian Fund, says UGA

Kyiv, December 25 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Grain traders are interested in the purchase of 300,000 tonnes of grain which the Agrarian Fund offers for sale and exports, President of the Ukrainian Grain Association (UGA) Volodymyr Klymenko has said.

He said at a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine on Tuesday that trading with wheat on the Agrarian Exchange could be held in January.

Klymenko noted that potential buyers should know where grain is stored, what is the quality of grain and other things before the auction.

He added that the proposal of the Agrarian Policy and Food Ministry to buy wheat from the Agrarian Fund was a surprise for traders.

As reported, recently the Agrarian Policy and Food Ministry proposed to traders to buy 300,000 tonnes of wheat for exports from the Agrarian Fund. Wheat is sold as the Agrarian Fund should raise funds to pay to farmers under forward contracts.

Wheat exports from Ukraine have been suspended recently as the maximum possible level of wheat shipments set for the current marketing year, as agreed between grain traders and the Agrarian Policy and Food Ministry, was reached.

The ministry projects the grain harvest in 2012 at about 46.5 million tonnes against the record high yield of 56.7 million tonnes registered in 2011.

The ministry expects that Ukraine will ship 23 million tonnes of grain onto foreign markets during the current season.