KIEV, UKRAINE — In July 2015, China imported more than 215, 300  tonnes of barley from Ukraine, which became the highest monthly index of grain supplies to the reporting country, according to the Ukrainian Agrarian Congress. China occupied the second position in the rating of countries-importers of Ukrainian barley.

Ukraine started actively supplying barley to China in the 2014-15 market year. Shipment volumes showed rather sporadic character, because the monthly volumes did not exceed 70 million tonnes. In 2014-15, China imported 250.9 million tonnes of Ukrainian grain. Thus, only in the first month of the 2015-16 market year, Ukraine supplied 86% of the grain volumes exported to China in the 2014-15 market year.

According to Andrew Kupchenko, grain market analyst at APK-Inform Agency, barley trading operations between Ukraine and China is a confirmation of Ukraine’s competitive price level and acceptable qualitative indices, compared with other grain suppliers. At the same time, the Chinese market is considered as one of the key directions for further development of grain exports from Ukraine.