Ukraine: Barley export forecast increased to 4.25 mln tonnes

Ukraine's APK-Inform consultancy has increased its 2020/21 barley export forecast to 4.25 million tonnes from the 4.20 million tonnes estimated a month ago, the consultancy said on March 18.

Ukraine has already exported 3.9 million tonnes of the commodity, using almost 93% of the 2020/21 exportable surplus, it said in a statement.

APK-Inform said that most of the volume - 2.7 million tonnes - was supplied to China and that Beijing has covered 33% of its imports with Ukrainian-origin barley so far in the 2020/21 July-June season.

Ukraine also exported 334,000 tonnes of barley to Saudi Arabia, 295,000 tonnes to Libya and 161,000 tonnes to Tunisia.

APK-Inform last week said prices for Ukrainian-origin barley from 2021 harvest exceeded those of high-quality milling wheat owing to strong demand from China.

Forward contract prices for 2021 harvest barley stood at $220-$230 a tonne CPT (carriage paid to) Black Sea June-July delivery, while high-quality milling wheat was priced at between $218 and $227 a tonne with the same delivery date, the consultancy said.

Ukraine's government expects that favourable weather could allow farmers to increase the barley harvest to 9.2 million tonnes in 2021, from 7.8 million tonnes in 2020.