Grain loading by rail almost halved in August

The average daily grain load on the railway network of Ukraine in the first five days of August decreased to 26.6 thousand tons compared to 51.5 thousand tons in July.

This was reported by RAIL.insider  following the results of an online meeting of representatives of Ukrzaliznytsia with agricultural market participants.

Over the five days of August, 182 thousand tons of grain were transported by rail in all modes of transport. This is 44% less than in July and 41% less than in the same period last year.

Export transportation decreased even more – to 76.3 thousand tons. This is 73% less than in July and 72.4% less in annual terms.

40.8 thousand tons of grain were transported to ports, while 35.5 thousand tons were transported through western border crossings. The latter indicator increased by 31% compared to July.

According to Valeriy Tkachev, Deputy Director of the Department of Transportation Technology and Commercial Work of Ukrzaliznytsia, farmers are now assessing the economics of alternative routes, as additional costs for transshipment and transportation through Romania, Moldova, Poland and Hungary remain high.

He also noted that European ports, in particular Constanta, currently do not have free capacity to transship significant volumes of Ukrainian grain.

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