Financial Times: Ukraine removes grain export quotas

Ukraine, one of the world’s top grain exporters, has removed grain export quotas that have helped drive up global food prices and hit domestic agribusinesses hard. The move will ease concerns in the global wheat market about supplies in the second half of the year as western Europe and the southern US, two key producing regions, suffer a drought that is likely to reduce output significantly. European wheat prices for the new crop, which will be harvested in the next three months, have surged to €245 ($345) a tonne, significantly above last year’s prices. Food company executives and traders fear further price rises unless it rains over the next three weeks in farming areas of France, Germany, the UK and Poland, which produce about 65 per cent of the European Union wheat crop. Read full report here.