Ukraine’s Rapeseed Exports to Fall 12%, UkrAgroConsult Says

Ukraine’s rapeseed exports will fall
12 percent to 1.25 million metric tons this year due to bad
weather and declining demand in the European Union, Kyiv-based
agriculture researcher UkrAgroConsult said.

Exports for the year started July 1 may still fall further,
Yulia Garkavenko, UkrArgoConsult rapeseed analyst, said today.
In December, the researcher expected shipments to be 1.35
million tons.

Ukraine exported 954,000 tons of rapeseed in the July to
January period, or 29 percent less than 1.35 million tons a year
earlier, the researcher said in an e-mailed statement yesterday.

Ukraine’s winter rapeseed is in the worst condition it’s
been in for three years after plants were weakened by an autumn
drought and winter frosts. About 30 percent to 40 percent of the
962,000 hectares (2.37 million acres) planted will be lost, the
researcher said.

In addition to having a smaller harvest, exports will also
fall because the EU is buying more Australian canola, which is a
substitute for Ukrainian rapeseed used for bio-diesel
production, Garkavenko said.

Spring rapeseed planting may rise to 100,000 hectares from
77,000 hectares a year before, the researcher said. The 2012
rapeseed crop will probably fall by 21 percent to 1.1 million
tons from 1.44 million tons in 2011, according to
UkrAgroConsult.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Kateryna Choursina in Kyiv at
kchoursina@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Claudia Carpenter at
ccarpenter2@bloomberg.net

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