The State Customs Service of Ukraine has in fact suspended the customs registration and departure of vessels with grain from Ukrainian ports, the Ukrainian Agrarian Confederation (UAC) reported.
"Vessels loaded with grain are now stuck at the ports of Ukraine, the samples of grain, as the State Customs Service requires, are not collected, and local forensic medical institutes, which, for some reasons, have been authorized to examine [the grain], don’t know how to do that and have no equipment and funds," the UAC said in a statement.
According to the UAC, the State Customs Service explains its activity by the need to conduct an anti-smuggling campaign.
The UAC said that the State Customs Service first suspended the customs registration and departure of ships with grain July 23 through July 27, and resumed operation on July 29, 2010.
"Grain traders’ losses from "that campaign" amount to several hundred thousand U.S. dollars from the idle time of the ships alone. Their procurement activity has been ruined," reads the statement.
Representatives from grain trading companies in comments to Interfax-Ukraine confirmed the suspension of the customs registration and departure of vessels with grain from the Ukrainian ports.
