Ukraine's grain exports have fallen to around 12.7 million metric tonnes so far in the 2023/24 July-June marketing season, agriculture ministry data has shown.
The ministry said that by November 30 last year, Ukraine had exported 17.6 million tonnes of grain.
The volume exported this season includes 5.8 million tonnes of wheat, 5.9 million tonnes of corn and 870,000 tonnes of barley, the data showed. In the previous season to this point Ukraine had exported 6.7 million tonnes of wheat, 9.3 million tonnes of corn and 1.45 million tonnes of barley.
Export Levels
The ministry said traders had exported 3.45 million tonnes of grain so far in November compared with 4.35 million tonnes by November 30, 2022.
The ministry gave no explanation for the drop but traders and farmers' unions have said blocked Ukrainian Black Sea ports and Russian attacks on the country's Danube River ports are the main reasons for the decline.
Ukraine has traditionally shipped most of its exports through its deep water Black Sea ports.
Ukraine's government expects a harvest of 79 million tonnes of grain and oilseeds in 2023, with its 2023/24 exportable surplus totalling about 50 million tonnes.
Extreme Weather
Elsewhere, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Sunday thanked Ukraine's military for fighting Russian attacks and its rescue services for tackling the consequences of extreme winter weather that he said had deprived about 400 settlements in 10 regions of power.
In his nightly video address, Zelenskiy said relentless, intense battles were ongoing in the eastern regions of Donetsk and Kharkiv, while "extremely challenging weather" was affecting areas from Kyiv region in the north to Odesa in the south.
