Several factors that make pressure on the price situation
One of the pressure factors on the Ukrainian corn prices situation was a decrease in the activity of traders. There is big uncertainty about the extension of the “grain agreement” after the expiration of its second term in March and the slow pace of export shipments in this direction. In addition, prices were affected by further strikes by Polish agricultural producers against the export of Ukrainian grain, despite the announced state support program. It is also worth noting that the decline in prices was also due to the rather high stocks of corn among agricultural producers. However, the issue of its quality and the projected reduction in area under corn in 2023 have limited the influence of this factor.
Following the results of the last week, feed corn prices slightly decreased on the western borders of Ukraine. Purchasing prices for Ukrainian corn at the border with Poland fell to 200-215 USD/t CPT.
Ukrzaliznytsia reported some positive changes
On the positive side, Ukrzaliznytsia reported a reduction in the queue at the western border crossings to 14,944 wagons and the average waiting time for a wagon in line to 7.6 days. However, the situation remains uneven and the transition remains quite busy. Secondly, Ukrzaliznytsia plans to launch 4 container trains to European countries, but the project will be presented only in May.
February export of Ukrainian corn exceeded 2 million tons
According to the latest data from the State Customs Service, as of February 20, Ukraine has exported 30.318 million tons of grains in 2022/23. In February – 3.347 million tons.
At the same time, for the same period of the previous season, this indicator amounted to 42.544 million tons, incl. in February 2022 – 4.074 million tons.
In terms of crops, we have the following results:
– wheat – 10.808 million tons (in February – 1.073 million tons);
– barley – 1.981 million tons (164 thousand tons);
– rye – 15.3 thousand tons (2.6 thousand tons);
– corn – 17.415 million tons (2.1 million tons).