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Every well-known trademark goes through a difficult path to success. In the fiercely competitive global market, only purposeful companies that are not afraid of challenges, work hard to improve their product, and constantly prove leadership can receive recognition.

The priority direction of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy should be the development of solutions that will eliminate logistical difficulties for Ukrainian farmers. In particular, the Ministry of Agrarian Policy must defend the interests of agricultural producers before the owners of infrastructures, who strive for maximum monetization of the supply channels of Ukrainian agricultural products…

In addition to world prices, the high cost of farmers’ access to markets will have a decisive influence on the formation of domestic grain prices in Ukraine in 2024/25. Now it is determined by the current pricing principles for railway logistics services. Because the price of grain transportation is formed not by producers and exporters,…

The pricing principles of internal railway logistics in Ukraine are made impossible by the business model of agricultural production, in which the farmer does not have his own logistics means for accessing markets.

The Ministry of Infrastructure plans to soften the requirements of its pre-war Order (No. 647 dated November 30, 2021) regarding the terms of operation of freight cars. In particular, for the period of martial law, it is proposed to “amnesty” from scrapping those wagons whose final term of use expires in 2022-2024. The Ministry of Infrastructure’s easing of norms is justified by the risk of a shortage of wagons and an increase in the price of rail freight transportation.

Blockades on the Polish-Ukrainian borders in 2023 set a precedent when a protest against Ukrainian economic influence becomes a tool for Polish business to pressure its government. In the future, such actions may spread to other EU countries – if the Ukrainian government or business does not introduce measurable, transparent and demonstrable export cargo logistics.

Ukrainian export-oriented enterprises face great challenges in their work. Companies have to look for new logistics routes, which are constantly being rebuilt, taking into account the impact of security and economic factors. At the same time, Ukrainian business is not always welcome abroad, and this is eloquently evidenced by the restriction of our export activity, which was introduced by the EU until September 15.

The main problem of Ukrainian agricultural exports is not the physical narrowing of access to markets, but the system of economic relations, which does not stimulate stakeholders to eliminate the difficulties of Ukrainian farmers with access to markets. Such a point of view was expressed by Yuriy Shchuklin, an expert on the logistics market, a member of the EBA Logistics Committee.

The beginning and subsequent course of a full-scale war became a test for Ukraine that touched all spheres. It affected the economy almost the most. The export of Ukrainian goods looks like one of the ways to overcome the crisis, but at the same time it requires endurance, flexibility of thinking and adaptability from entrepreneurs. Blockade of ports, destruction of infrastructure, restructuring of supply chains – this is far from a complete list of what Ukrainian companies are facing.

Yurii Shchuklin, logistics market expert, member of the logistics committee of the European Business Association.