The government of Kenya has announced plans to buy 450,000 tonnes of yellow maize from Ukraine March through May 2017, according to the Ukrainian Agrarian Policy and Food Ministry`s press service.
These plans were disclosed in a letter sent by Ukraine`s Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the Agrarian Policy and Food Ministry.
In this connection, the Ukrainian agriculture ministry asks all suppliers interested in potential deals to inform it so that it could draw up lists of suppliers and send them to Ukraine`s Embassy in Kenya.
”This information will be then forwarded to the Kenyan side as consolidated commercial offers from Ukrainian enterprises. The major requirements for maize supplies to Kenya are the absence of GMOs and the availability of either an EU certificate or compliance with standards of the Kenya Bureau of Standards,” it said.
Earlier, Ukrainian farmers boosted exports of grain seeds in 2016 from 2015 by 50%, to US$17.2 million, according to the Institute of Agrarian Economics. Maize accounted for 91.8% of seed exports, its shipments abroad were estimated at $15.8 million.
The Ukrainian agriculture ministry reported a 4.5% increase in exports of Ukrainian farm produce in 2016 from 2015, to $15.5 billion. They accounted for 42.5% of all exports from Ukraine.
Traditionally, grain, vegetable oil and oilseeds, soybeans, sugar and meat were key export-oriented staples.
Major sales markets were Asian countries (45.9% of exports, or $7 billion), the EU member states (27.5%, or $4.2 billion), Africa (15.7%, or $2.4 billion), the CIS (7.7%, or $1.2 billion), and the United States (0.9%, or $45 million).
