Food security of Ukraine is not at risk — UGA President

As in previous years, in the Memorandum it is necessary to specify the export not only of milling wheat but also fodder. This was informed by the President of the Ukrainian Grain Association (UGA) Nikolay Gorbachov in the comment for Latifundist.com.

"As UGA, we do not agree with a number of positions of the Memorandum. To begin with, we do not see any risk for the country's food security. Ukraine this year, according to our estimates, will produce about 24-25 million tons of wheat. The market expects that 16 million tons will be exported. Taking into account that the population consumes 4 million tons, there is no problem," the expert says.

In his opinion, a 5 million tons consumption is overstated, since a huge number of citizens who do not live in the country are not taken into account. This is referred to 8-10 million Ukrainians who have emigrated.

"Now the Agrarian Ministry is essentially blackmailing us. They say most market players agree with the current provisions of the Memorandum. But we are in touch with one another, with other associations, and I have not seen a 100% agreement," comments Nikolay Gorbachov.

At the same time, he stresses that it is necessary to remove the article about 1st–5th class milling wheat as it misleads the international partners.

"Our 5th class does not correspond to their milling wheat. None in the world cares about our standards issues," UGA President notes.

Nikolay Gorbachov adds that in the latest version of the Memorandum the paragraph by which the market participants should be warned about possible restrictions two months beforehand is the right decision. This paragraph did not exist before but in the previous version of the Memo, this period was only 21 days.

"Everything should be reasonable, we are "in the same boat", and nobody needs this uncertainty. And any discussions either around unclear volumes, or grain quality, are worrisome to the international market and damage the reputation of the country," adds Nikolay Gorbachov.

Reference: in MY2018/19, Ukraine may export only 8 million tons of milling wheat of 1st–5th classes. Such indicative annual volume of wheat exports of Group A and B (1st–5th) is specified in the draft "Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine and participants of the grain market for MY2018-2019 (effective since 01.07.2018)."