Analysts estimated the domestic consumption of grains and pulses in Ukraine in 2016-2017 MY at the level of 24.2 million tons, or 42% of the general grain production (66.1 million tons), and down by 4% YoY (25.3 million tons).
At the same time, the share of food use in the general domestic consumption continued steadily decreasing. During five recent seasons, the share of food consumption of wheat decreased by nearly 7% per year, in terms of the current declining of the population and changes in food culture. The domestic consumption of barley for food processing covers less than 1% in the grain consumption structure, the grain market analyst at APK-Inform Agency, Andrei Kupchenko noted.
The expert specified that flour production was the main direction of food processing in the wheat segment, while groats production was the main similar direction in the barley segment. In the period of July-May 2016-2017 MY, large-scale companies of Ukraine reduced flour production by 1% YoY (1.80 million tons against 1.83 million tons). At the same time, in the same period the production of barley groats grew by 4%, and reached 16.9 thousand tons, against 16.3 thousand tons in the previous season. (APK-Inform/Business World Magazine)