Ukraine says Saudi Arabia to buy 4 million tonnes of barley

Ukraine says Saudi Arabia to buy 4 million tonnes of barley

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Saudi Arabia is likely to buy 4 million tonnes of Ukrainian barley in the 2012/13 season, Ukraine's Farm Minister Mykola Prysyazhnyuk was quoted as saying on Monday.

May 22, 2012 9:17 by Reuters

Saudi Arabia is likely to buy 4 million tonnes of Ukrainian barley in the 2012/13 season, Ukraine’s Farm Minister Mykola Prysyazhnyuk was quoted as saying on Monday.

“Representatives of Saudi agrarian sector are going to visit Ukraine at the beginning of June. A forward agreement on (buying) 4 million tonnes of barley is likely to be signed,” the ministry quoted Prysyazhnyuk as saying.

Prysyazhnyuk visited Saudi Arabia last week.

Ukraine is the world’s major producer and exporters of barley and plans to harvest up to 8 million tonnes of the commodity in 2012. The barley harvest totalled 9.1 million tonnes in 2011.

Ukraine exported 1.98 million tonnes of barley in the first nine months of the 2011/12 season, including 1.44 million tonnes to Saudi Arabia.

(Reporting by Pavel Polityuk; Editing by Anthony Barker)