Ukrainian Railways exports over 1 mln tonnes of grain since Aug 1

MOSCOW. Aug 25 (Interfax) - Ukrainian Railways (JSC Ukrzaliznytsia) exported 1.16 million tonnes of grain cargoes between August 1 and August 23, a 28% rise from 917,000 tonnes transported over the whole of July.

Out of the overall amount of grain exported by Ukrzaliznytsia on August 1-23, 549,000 tonnes were transported via land border crossings on Ukraine's western border (716,000 tonnes in July), and 467,000 tonnes were delivered to ports (190,000 tonnes in July).

Between August 1 and August 23, 1.16 million tonnes of grain were loaded into Ukrzaliznytsia train cars, accounting for 17% of the overall amount of 6.9 million tonnes loaded by Ukrzaliznytsia over this period, deputy director Ukrzaliznytsia's commercial operations department Valeriy Tkachev said at an online meeting with industry representatives on Thursday, according to Ukrainian media.

"We exported 41,600 tonnes in March, 917,000 tonnes in July, and already 1.16 million tonnes between August 1 and 23. We have gradually been increasing transportation volumes, but it is still not enough," Tkachev said.

Ukrainian exports have soared thanks to the signing of the Istanbul grain deal, which helped resume grain exports from three seaports in the Odesa region in August, he said.

"The share of grain has been growing both in terms of loading, the handover of train cars and transshipment. It means that farmers are rapidly adapting and are starting to load and to transport larger amounts," Tkachev said, when commenting on the increase in the share of grain in the overall amount of loaded cargoes to 17% in August from 14% in July.

The average daily amount of grain loaded onto train cars on August 1-23 was 50,200 tonnes, whereas earlier this figure stood at 39,000-47,000 tonnes, he said.

Ukrzaliznytsia has exported 71,000 tonnes of sunflower oil and 78,000 tonnes of all sorts of seed meal since the beginning of August, he said,

According to Tkachev, as of August 23, the average daily number of train cars of all types cleared at all border crossings declined slightly to 1,840 train cars from 1,860 at the beginning of the month, but the number of train cars handed over for grain transportation increased by 12% to 444 from 390 in early August.

On August 23, there were a total of 27,100 train cars of all types, including 8,700 train cars with grain (12% less than at the beginning of August) and 506 with sunflower oil (41% less), queuing at border crossings, 14% down from 31,500 train cars waiting at border crossings at the beginning of the month, Tkachev said.

"On the whole, the number of train cars being exchanged is growing, and queues with grain are decreasing. However, the situation remains complicated at the Vadul-Siret-Dyakove border crossing with Romania and the Dorohusk-Yahodyn border crossing with Poland, where business is actively heading to now. The situation is also difficult at Bateve-Eperjeske," he said.