KIEV, Aug. 31 – President Viktor Yanukovych on Tuesday urged the government to investigate the rapid increase in food prices in Ukraine, adding that measures must be taken to ease inflation.

The government has long predicted that grain output will decline this season due to unfavorable weather conditions, but other food prices have been also growing, triggering concerns.

The price hikes may lead to administrative restrictions on price markups, and other measures, such as export restrictions and interventions, as the government tries to battle the price increases.

“The government, jointly with the Anti-Monopoly Committee, must urgently investigate the reasons behind the rapid food price hikes,” the Yanukovych administration said in a statement.

The price of milk rose 20% over the past 30 days, while the price of butter increased 7.3% in the same period, according to the agriculture policy ministry.

But Yanukovych’s biggest concern was buckwheat, a cereal popular in Ukraine and in Russia, which despite rapid price hikes has started to disappear from shelves due to frenzy demand.

Yanukovych, in the statement, singled out the buckwheat and urged the government to see whether additional imports of the commodity are required to increase supply.

Ukraine, the world’s third largest producer of buckwheat after Russia and China, is estimated to produce about 117,100 metric tons of buckwheat annually.

For comparison, Russia usually produces more than 1 million metric tons of buckwheat annually, followed by China’s about 800,000 metric tons, according to industry analysts.

The buckwheat frenzy comes as similar fears have recently swept Russia, the world’s biggest producer and consumer of buckwheat, due to draught that is expected to reduce the harvest.

“Perhaps, this is the reason” for buckwheat frenzy in Ukraine, Agriculture Policy Minister Mykola Prysiazhniuk said at a press conference.

He said that ministry for now will not be considering slapping restrictions on exports of buckwheat.

“This is a frenzy that was spurred artificially,” Prysiazhniuk sad. “Today Ukraine completely, by 100%, provides itself with buckwheat.”

The government already considered – but postponed – decision on introducing grain export quotas earlier this month.

Ukraine, the world’s third-biggest grain exporter, was planning to slap a 2.5 million metric ton quota on grain exports between Sept. 1 and Dec. 31, half of what had been earlier discussed.

The plans for more restrictions come as Russia, another major exporter of grain, has temporarily banned exports after its grain harvest was affected by adverse weather.

The protectionist measures adopted by Russia and considered by Ukraine have fuelled fears of a repeat of the 2007-2008 food crisis when countries from India to Argentina imposed trade restrictions.

The World Bank has urged countries to refrain from protectionist measures, saying they could trigger a food crisis.

Ukraine exported 21.2 million metric tons of grain in 2009-2010 marketing season, but the exports were expected to drop to 15 million metric tons in 2010-2011, industry analysts said. (tl/ez)