KIEV: US officials in Kiev hiked expectations for Ukraine’s corn shipments close to a record high, amid increased ideas for last year’s harvest and talk of “aggressive” offers on export markets.
The US Department of Agriculture’s Kiev bureau estimated at 20.0m tonnes Ukraine’s corn shipments in 2014-15, a figure only 5,000 tonnes below last season’s all-time high.
The forecast was also 3.5m tonnes above the USDA’s official estimate, which could be revised in the department’s monthly Wasde crop report issued on Tuesday.
And it would mean Ukraine overtaking Brazil to take second rank among world corn exporters, behind the US, which is expected by the USDA to rack up 44.45m tonnes of shipments this season.
Brazil is currently forecast exporting 19.5m tonnes, a decline in volumes reflecting a switch by many farmers to plantings soybeans instead of corn thanks to price incentives.
