OREANDA-NEWS. May 20, 2011. Ukraine’s parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, approved a law introducing 9-14% export duties for cereals yesterday, which was proposed by the Cabinet of Ministers in April. According to the law, duties for cereals will be: maximum of 9% of the value or EUR 17 per mt for wheat, maximum of 14% or EUR 23 per mt for barley and maximum of 12% or EUR 20 per mt for corn. The law should come effective the first day the month following signature by the president and remain in effect until January 1, 2012.

Concorde Capital: The biggest positive for farmers is that the law will be effective only until yearend. We see this as a short term initiative with the key aim to shift the focus to increasing the processing of cereals in Ukraine rather than exporting raw commodities. We believe the government is drawing on its implementation of oilseeds duties in 2003, which spurred rapid development of the sunflower oilseed crushing industry – as a result, sunflowers are mostly exported in oil form rather than oilseeds, creating a higher domestic value chain.