Ukraine boosted its grain exports to 4.54 million tonnes in March up 52 percent from 2.98 million tonnes in February thanks to record sales of maize, analyst UkrAgroConsult said on Wednesday, according to Reuters.
The maize shipments jumped to 3.1 million tonnes in March, the highest so far for the 2016/2017 marketing year that runs from July to June, from 1.8 million tonnes in February, Reuters reports.
Exports of wheat rose to 1.05 million tonnes from 840,000 tonnes a month earlier.
Ukraine exported a total of 34.2 million tonnes of grain in the first nine months of the current 2016/2017 season.
Earlier this month, UkrAgroConsult raised its forecast for the 2017 grain harvest to 61.4 million tonnes from a previous estimate of 60.9 million tonnes.
A stronger harvest would likely raise the 2017/18 grain export forecast to 39.5 million tonnes from 38.8 million tonnes, said UkrAgroConsult.
Ukraine`s agriculture ministry forecasts grain exports for the period at a record 42 million tonnes.
