Ukraine ready to replace Russian grain supplies on Turkish market

"If Russia stops its supplies, the traditional supplier [to Turkey] is Ukraine. We have what to bring there, not only wheat and corn, but also sunflower oil," President of the Ukrainian Grain Association Volodymyr Klymenko told Interfax-Ukraine. The leading expert on the grain market at UkrAgroConsult agency, Elyzaveta Malyshko, said that Turkey pays particular attention to the quality of grain and usually buys small batches of 3,000-10,000 tonnes. "In the four months of the 2015/16 agri-year Ukraine has supplied 400 tonnes of corn and 105,000 tonnes of wheat to Turkey, and in 2014/15 agri-year our supplies to the country were 329,000 tonnes of grain, but it will not be difficult to boost them this year," she said. Head of the analytical department of AAA consulting company Maria Kolesnyk said that in the 2014/15 agri-year, Russia supplied 5.5 million tonnes of grain to Turkey, which is 18% of total Russian grain exports. "Ukrainian wheat could partially occupy a niche that could become vacant. The quality of our bread grain is high, and I think that our traders will be quick on the uptake," the expert said. She said that Turkey is the largest exporter of Russian sunflower oil. If supplies are suspended, Ukrainian companies would boost supplies in this direction, as the sunflower seeds harvest is large this year around 11 million tonnes. As reported, Russian grain exporters temporarily suspended signing of contracts on grains supplies to Turkey due to fears that restrictions would be imposed.