At one time the U.S. held a 90% share of the corn market in Northern Africa. This percentage fell to approximately 10% as Ukraine emerged as a global producer and exporter. Corn exports from Ukraine have not stopped because of the political strife ongoing in the country at the moment. In fact little corn gets shipped from the Crimea region. The problem is that now it costs more to ship corm from Ukraine because of increased insurance costs as a result of the unstable political environment within the country, and the possibility of demurrage charges for delays in loading or unloading grain. The extra charges add $7 – $8 per tons of corn giving the U.S. a competitive economic advantage on the global market, meaning it is possible that the U.S. could regain between 10% and 20% of the North African corn market, at least temporarily. The U.S. Department of Agriculture had expected Ukraine to increase corn production for 2014 however it is uncertain if Ukrainian farmers will have access to credit to plant as Russia has withdrawn a significant credit package.
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