Grain freight from Ukrainian ports by sea stops getting cheaper - Ukrainian brokers

MOSCOW. Nov 14 (Interfax) - A decline in the cost of grain transportation from Ukrainian ports by sea has stopped in the past few days, Ukrainian media reported with reference to the Ukrainian Grain Association (UGA) and Atria Brokers.

"The situation on the freight market was uncertain at the end of the week, and the decline in grain freight rates from the deep sea ports of the Odessa region, which was observed over the previous weeks, has stopped," they said.

As of November 10, the cost of corn transportation by Handysize vessels along key routes remained the same as a week before, i.e. $45-$46 per tonne to Israel and the eastern coast of Italy, $43-$45 per tonne to the eastern Mediterranean area, and $48-$50 per tonne to the Mediterranean coast of Spain.

The cost of corn transportation by Panamax vessels from Odessa, Yuzhny, and Chernomorsk to China also remained within $60-$62 per tonne, they said.

As for the Danube ports, the changes in freight rates were mixed. In particular, the cost of corn transportation by 6,000-tonne coasters from the Reni and Izmail ports to the Sea of Marmara went down by $2-$3 to $35-$36 per tonne and to Greece by $2 to $39-$41 per tonne, while that to Israel rose by $2-$3 to $51-$52 per tonne, to the eastern Mediterranean by $1-$2 to $47-$48 per tonne, and to Seville by $1 to $59-$61 per tonne. The rates of freight toward the eastern coasts of Italy or Spain remained relatively stable at $51-$52 per tonne and $55-$56 per tonne, respectively.

The cost of agricultural produce transportation by barges to Constanta declined substantially due to the large number of available barges and a low amount of crops to be shipped in that direction. In particular, corn transportation dropped by 7-8 euros to 25-26 euros per tonne and sunflower by 15-16 euros to 41-42 euros per tonne, they said.