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According to the official customs data, in January 2016 Ukraine exported 21.8 thsd tonnes of barley, as opposed to 200.4 thsd tonnes in December 2015. The major buyer of the Ukrainian grain - Saudi Arabia - significantly decreased its purchases (15 thsd tonnes in January 2016, against 88 thsd tonnes in the previous month), as well as Libya (7 thsd tonnes, against 37 thsd tonnes).

Corn, bean, and wheat prices have all taken the plunge the past couple years, but analysts and traders said they’re optimistic that futures will improve in 2016. Corn futures on the Chicago Board of Trade have dropped 19% in the past two years, soybeans are down by a third, and wheat has dropped 24%.

In two months, the spring sowing campaign will begin. According to preliminary information, as regards the 2016 harvest, the whole cultivated area under agricultural crops by all categories of farms is expected to reach 26.7 million hectares or 100% of the area sown in 2015”, Oleksiy Pavlenko, the Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine.

The U.S. 2015 corn and soybean crop sizes did not increase as much as the trade expected, and the amount of those crops being stored did not build as much either, according to the USDA Tuesday.As a result, the CME Group’s corn, soybean, and wheat markets have spiked higher. At the close, the March corn futures settled 5 cents higher at $3.56 3/4. March soybean futures closed 13 1/4 cents higher at $8.74.