Moldova offers Ukraine discount on rail tariff for sunflower oil transit

MOSCOW. July 21 (Interfax) -Moldovan Railways has provided Ukraine with a discount to transport its sunflower oil via the Basarabeasca-Etulia section toward the Danube ports of Reni (Ukraine), Giurgiulesti (Moldova), and Galati (Romania), the deputy director at the commercial department of Ukrainian Railways (UZ), Valeriy Tkachev, said.

"Moldovan Railways has responded positively to the Ukrainian Railways request for an individual discount to transport sunflower oil (NHM code: 1512) across the Basarabeasca-Etulia section toward the Danube ports of Reni (Ukraine), Giurgiulesti and Galati (Moldova, Romania)," Ukrainian media quoted Tkachev as saying on social media.

According to the Moldovan Railways website, a 0.61 coefficient will apply to the transportation tariffs at the Basarabeasca-Etulia section if a minimum of 30,000 tonnes of sunflower oils is transported monthly (or 15-16 tanks of oil per day). This amounts to a discount of about $3.52/tonne of sunflower oil, or 39% on the freight tariff.

As a result, the cost of sunflower oil transportation across Moldovan territory (Basarabeasca-Etulia) will decrease from $10.15/tonne to $6.63/tonne, Tkachev said.

"This discount will apply to sunflower oil transported by all freight forwarders across Moldova for the reporting month (volumes must be summed up), with the Moldovan Railway calculating it on a monthly basis before the 6th day of the next month," he said.

Moldovan Railways has yet to reply to the inquiries about a possible inclusion of grain cargoes and oil and fat processing products such as oilseed meals, oil cakes (NHM codes: 2304, 2306) in the discount calculations, Tkachev said.