World Agrinews

Egypt, the world's largest buyer of wheat, has issued preliminary rejections on seven cargoes of the grain since introducing new import rules in January, prompting many traders to raise prices at state tenders, five traders told Reuters.

Interview By Natalia BILOUSOVA, The Day, Kyiv, Ukraine, Morgan Williams, Director, Government Relations, Washington office, SigmaBleyzer and President of the U.S.-Ukraine Business Council (USUBC):

The US government has almost finished the certification of Ukrainian grain. What volume of grain will Ukraine be able to export to the US market after this procedure is finished? When, according to your estimations, might it happen?

Russia's grain harvest this year is likely to be 3 million-6 million metric tons lower than the earlier estimates of 90 million-93 million tons because of drought in the country's Southern and Central regions.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Wednesday lowered its forecast for corn planting this year to 87.9 million acres. That's down from the 88.8 million acres in USDA's previous prediction, but still a 2% increase from 2009.