Ukraine maize exports to Iran shrink 40pct in January

Ukraine's exports of maize to Iran dropped 40 per cent in January as problems collecting payment from Tehran due to tightening sanctions hampered trade, consultancy ProAgro said on Monday, quoting port data.

Ukrainian and European traders said this week they were no longer booking cargoes on Iranian ships to transport grain exports from Ukraine because of difficulties with payments following European Union sanctions.

Maize exports to Iran from the top exporter in the Black Sea region fell to 130,000 tonnes in January from 217,000 tonnes in December and 238,000 tonnes in November, ProAgro said.

The EU agreed last week to freeze the assets of Iran's central bank as part of further sanctions.

Around 400,000 tonnes of grain largely from Ukraine and Russia is held up on about 10 ships stranded outside Iranian ports because of payment problems and trade disruption following the EU sanctions.

Some vessels have now left for other ports.

Ukraine harvested a record 22.7 million tonnes of maize, mostly used as an animal feedstock, in 2011 and the exportable surplus could reach 10 million tonnes in the 2011/12 season.

The former Soviet republic exported 6.2 million tonnes of maize in the first seven months of the current season.

According to export data, provided by UkrAgroConsult agriculture consultancy, Ukraine exported 634,194 tonnes of maize to Iran in the 2010/11 season and 73,600 tonnes in 2009/10.

Ukraine plans to remain a top maize producer and exporter in the Black Sea region in 2012 with a harvest of about 25 million tonnes, analysts said.

Ukraine's Farm Minister Mykola Prysyazhnyuk has said farms were likely to increase the area sown for maize to 4.3 million hectares this year.