Ukraine puts off grain export quota plans

Ukraine said on Wednesday it had put off introducing curbs on grain exports because the world market had settled after Russia's export ban and the Ukrainian home market was no longer threatened by demand from abroad.
But Ukrainian customs continued to enforce de facto export restrictions by blocking grain shipments from sea ports on the grounds that cargoes had been wrongly labelled.
On the grains markets world number one wheat buyer Egypt and major Russian grain customer hammered home the impact of Russia's lost exports, buying 240,000 tonnes of French and Canadian wheat.
Purchases of wheat by Egypt's General Authority for Supply Commodities (GASC) since Russia's August 15 ban on exports show Egypt has taken 720,000 tonnes from France, 55,000 tonnes from the United States and 120,000 tonnes from Canada.
One of the world's top wheat and barley exporters, Ukraine earlier this month proposed limiting exports of the two commodities to 2.5 mln tonnes between September and December following a drought in the region.
The move followed a ban on grain exports by last year's world number three grains exporter Russia, which led to soaring grain prices and panic buying on world markets.
"The question (of quotas) will not be discussed today," Farm Minister Mykola Prysyazhnyuk said on Wednesday. Asked by journalists whether the government would introduce quotas for the 2010/11 season as earlier proposed, he said: "Not yet".