 |
Saturday 20th of April 2024, 09:01 CET |
| Australia fears Ukrainian barley exports |
March 19, 2003
Dow Jones Newswires
|
Written by Ray Brindal
Posted by HW on April 19, 2024
|
Emergence of Ukraine
Ukraine will continue to emerge as a significant threat to other major suppliers to the global barley market, Australian exporter ABB Grain Ltd. said Wednesday.
Poor infrastructure
For many years, the Ukraine"s ability to export through its Black Sea ports was limited by poor transport infrastructure, which hasn"t kept up with its growth in grain production, Trevor Day, the company"s chairman said in a statement.
Black Sea ports
Ukraine has six ports on the Black Sea that handle about 90% of its grain exports, but inadequate rail and port facilities and insufficient grain storage limit total grain exports effectively to about 10 million metric tons a year, he said.
Rebuild
"This situation isn"t likely to last and as the country continues to rebuild, its infrastructure also will improve," he said.
Indeed the country has enormous potential to become a major agricultural exporter, he added.
Expansion projects
Various port capacity expansion projects are in the pipeline, he said, which will increase Ukraine"s export capacity to about 15 million tons to 16 million tons a year in the next five years.
|
Russia, which also uses the Black Sea for exporting grain, is in a similar situation, he said.
Matter of time
"Providing their crops remain large, it is only a matter of time before more Russian and Ukrainian grain finds its way onto the world market. We can expect that this area will become a major competitor of concern for Australia on the world market in the future," he said.
World market
Already, Day said, a steady flow of large supplies of cheap barley from the Black Sea region has restricted prices achievable on world markets.
Ukraine"s position in eastern Europe positions it well to supply many large markets, including Australia"s traditional markets in the Middle East, he said.
Australian shortfall
A savage drought cut barley production from the last crop restricting its availability for exports, with Ukraine benefiting from this Australian shortfall by selling more barley to Australia"s Middle East markets. |
| |
| Countries: |
|
| |
| Related topic(s): |
|
|
