Ukrainian export of agriculture products reaches 2.5 mln tonnes in June, three times lower than demand

MOSCOW. July 15 (Interfax) - Ukraine has managed to increase transportation of grain by railway twofold to more than 800,000 tonnes, increase cargo traffic at vehicle checkpoints 2.6 times and increase transshipment of grain in the ports on the Danube nearly to one million tonnes a month since February 24, Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said.

"In June, we managed to export approximately 2.5 million tonnes of agricultural produce, which is more than three times less than the monthly demand. We still need to export over 20 million tonnes of grain from the last year's harvest," Ukrainian media outlets said quoting the minister's post on a social network.

Kubrakov clarified that transshipment in ports is expected to increase even more considerably following the recent opening of traffic in the canal of the Danube's Bystre estuary.

However, even taking tactical steps aimed at overcoming the food crisis, Ukraine would still not be able to quickly replace the seaports which previously accounted for more than 80% of agricultural exports, taking into account the new harvest, the minister said.

"At the recent talks in Istanbul, we felt progress which we expect to develop into a full-scale agreement including security guarantees from the international community," Kubrakov said.