Ukraine's IMC agricultural holding to invest $12 mln in procuring grain railcars

MOSCOW. Aug 20 (Interfax) - Ukrainian agricultural holding IMC has normalized its operations, has restored exports and will invest $12 million in enlarging its stock of railcars for transporting grain in 2024, Ukrainian media cited chairman of the company's board of director Alex Lissitsa as saying.

"Our situation is much better now, especially because we have returned [to the market] at last. We are able to continue exports. This is an enormous advantage for us - exports via the western border by rail. It used to be very difficult and expensive for us. Everything is fine now," Lissitsa said in an interview with the deutschlandfunk.de radio station when commenting on the release of his book in Germany.

"Now we have $12 million to invest in grain railcars. We have also planned a series of other investments. The situation in this respect is much better today than it was two years ago," he said.

The agricultural holding is working together with the Ukrainian government to decide on the country's economic recovery priorities within the next few years, Lissitsa said.

IMC's press service said previously that the company had formed its own fleet of 150 railcars for transporting grain and planned to add 150 more to it before the end of 2024. As reported, IMC used its own railcars for the first time in early August to deliver grain from its silos to ports.

"The launch of our company's own railcar fleet is a milestone, because IMC is an export-focused company. Two of the three crops that we grow (winter wheat and corn) are almost fully sold on foreign markets, and the most optimal export sales channel for us is transportation by rail to seaports for subsequent delivery by sea to the end consumer. In fact, we need to transport an average of 60,000-70,000 tonnes of grain by rail to ports every month. The availability of its own railcar fleet will allow the agricultural holding to save a great deal on railway logistics costs," IMC press service quoted the holding's CEO Alexander Verzhikhovsky as saying then.

IMC is an integrated group of companies that specialize in crop farming. The holding's land bank is around 120,000 hectares and its storage capacity totals 554,000 tonnes.