EC to examine possibility of Ukrainian grain transport via Danube corridor - representative

BRUSSELS. Aug 30 (Interfax) - A group of European Commission (EC) experts will this week travel to the Danube estuary area to see if this route can be used to import four million tonnes of grain from Ukraine, EC spokesperson Miriam Garcia Ferrer said.

"And we will have a chance [...] to see what are the options to improve the capacity [of the corridor]. We still remain with the target of improving up to four million this corridor," Ferrer told a press briefing in Brussels on Tuesday, responding to a relevant question.

The use of the Danube corridor could resolve a whole host of issues, such as the possibilities of warehousing, transport and control, she said.

Asked how the problem of the temporary bans imposed independently by Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovenia on Ukrainian wheat, corn, rapeseed and sunflower seeds, would be resolved after September 15, and whether they might be extended, Ferrer said: "I don't think we are in a position to speculate at this time."

She recalled that a platform, formed to coordinate the issue of Ukrainian agricultural products, met on Monday to discuss how to improve transit and the warehousing capacity, to enable Ukraine to export its grain.

"Yesterday, we had the seventh meeting, to discuss what are the possibilities to increase the capacity of solidarity lanes, what are the alternative routes, what are the financing possibilities to improve the transport. And this is something that will continue with more frequency until September 15," the EC spokesperson said.