Ukraine's grain exports so far in February have exceeded the last year's level by almost 12%, reaching 5.3 million metric tons, agriculture ministry data showed on Wednesday.

Ukraine exported 4.7 million tons of various grains over the Feb. 1-27 period last year.

The ministry gave no explanation for the increase.

Ukraine's grain exports in the 2023/24 July-June marketing season so far have fallen to about 29.1 million tons from 31.8 million a year earlier, the data showed.

Exports have included 11.5 million tons of wheat, 15.8 million tons of corn and 1.6 million tons of barley.

Ukraine has traditionally exported most of its grain via its deep-water Black Sea ports.

The Ukrainian government expects a harvest of 81.3 million tons of grain and oilseeds in 2023, with a 2023/24 exportable surplus of about 50 million tons. (Reporting by Pavel Polityuk Editing by David Goodman )