Ukraine's barley exports to Saudi Arabia jumped by 55 percent in July from a year earlier to 464,000 tonnes thanks to a decrease in barley production by the main producing countries, analyst APK-Inform said on Friday.
"This growth is associated with a decrease in barley production this year in key exporting countries - Australia, Canada and Russia," it said in a statement.
The consultancy said that Ukraine's exportable surplus of barley remained practically at the previous season's level of 4.1 million tonnes.
Ukraine harvested 7.1 million tonnes of barley from 95 percent of the sown area as of Aug. 13.
APK-Inform also said that a diplomatic dispute between Saudi Arabia and Canada that was affecting their trade relations could enable Ukraine to increase shipments to Saudi Arabia.
Ukraine exported a total of 4.28 million tonnes of barley in the 2017/18 July-June season, including 1.9 million tonnes to Saudi Arabia.
(Reporting by Pavel Polityuk; Editing by Susan Fenton)