Khlib Investbud Ltd., the trade agent of the State Food and Grain Corporation of Ukraine, from April 11 to April 21 signed forward contracts worth UAH 267.8 million to buy 155,000 tonnes of grain.
"The pace of the realization of the [forward purchase] program is expanding," reads a Thursday press release of the State Food and Grain Corporation.
As reported, earlier Prime Minister Mykola Azarov demanded that Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food Mykola Prysiazhniuk invigorate the use of funds allocated for forward grain purchases.
He said that over the last decade the volume of forward purchases amounted to 10,000 tonnes.
"UAH 1.5 billion was allocated to the Agrarian Fund on February 18. Only half of the sum has been spent," the premier said.
The corporation said that from the moment of the program launch some 696 forward contracts had been signed for the supply to the state intervention fund of 507,400 tonnes of wheat out of 768,000 tonnes required under an agreement with the Agrarian Fund.
This year the forward purchases are financed in three tranches: producers will obtain first 50% of the sum after the signing of the contracts before the sowing campaign, 20% before harvesting and 30% after completion of harvesting, while earlier producers obtained 50% after harvesting.
Some farmers criticized the proposed agreements for forward purchases, as they infringe upon the interests of sellers.
