Louis Dreyfus stops grain purchases from Ukraine elevators

Louis Dreyfus Commodities Ukraine, a Ukrainian daughter company of one of the largest grain trading companies in the world - Louis Dreyfus Negoce S.A. (France) - has stopped purchasing grain at Ukrainian elevators.

A press release issued by the Ukrainian Agrarian Confederation on Friday reads that the company decided to do this because Ukraine is not reimbursing VAT.

"The same situation with VAT is seen at other grain exporters from Ukraine, and the total debt to them is around UAH 3.5 billion, according to market evaluations," reads the report.

The confederation said that the Ukraine's grain export potential for 2009/2010 marketing year (MY, July-June) is 23-24 million tonnes. The confederation said that since the start of the new marketing year, Ukraine exported over 12 million tonnes of grain.

According to the Agriculture Ministry, grain harvest in 2009 will be almost 46.2 million tonnes (in weight after processing) compared to last year's 53.3 million tonnes.

UkrAgroConsult