Ukraine increases railway grain exports by 4.6% in May vs April - railways official

MOSCOW. June 6 (Interfax) - Ukraine exported 1.3 million tonnes of grain in May, which is 4.6% more than in April (1.24 million tonnes).

Hence, the average daily volume of grain transported from Ukraine in May grew by 1,000 tonnes to 42,000 tonnes compared to April, Ukrainian media quoted Valeriy Tkachov, deputy director of the commerce department of the Ukrainian state railway company Ukrzaliznytsia, as saying in a statement available on the Cargo Transportation in Ukraine web portal.

The general volume of cargo transported via the Ukrainian railway network grew in May by 3.1% to 9.15 million tonnes from 8.87 million tonnes in April, he said.

The average daily processing rate at Ukrainian border crossings was about 1,920 train cars as of May 31, while they can process up to 3,420 cars a day. This has led to the accumulation of some 37,000 cars (plus 6,000 cars from early May), of which some 10,000 are loaded with grain, 700 with vegetable oil, 500 with grist, and 350 with press cake.

About 5,700 train cars, including 3,900 loaded with grain, have conglomerated on the border with Romania to be cleared for passing through the Vadul-Siret - Dornesti crossing point and another 1,500 train cars (1,100 with grain) through the Dyakove - Halmeu crossing point.

The average time it is expected to take for these cars to be cleared to pass through the border to Romania is 80 days. Romanian railways officials have also said that, as the harvesting campaign is to begin in about two months, the country would likely to prioritize the transportation of Romanian products over those exported from Ukraine, it said.

As reported earlier, Ukrainian Agrarian Policy and Food Minister Mykola Solsky said in early May that Ukraine had exported 1.09 million tonnes of grain in April, five times more than in March (about 0.2 million tonnes).

Before February 24, Ukraine had exported monthly up to 5 million tonnes of agricultural products via the Odesa and Mykolayiv ports. However, as the ports are blocked now, Ukraine can currently export about 1 million tonnes of grain.

According to the Institute of Agrarian Economy, Ukraine's agrarian exports amounted to $1.74 billion in March and April, compared to $5.68 billion in January and February. The country exported a total of $7.42 billion worth of agricultural products in January-April.