KIEV, UKRAINE — Ukraine’s railways are backlogged with grain shipments trying to find alternative export routes after Russia’s invasion blocked the main Black Sea ports, Reuters reported, citing APK-Inform.
Ukrainian railways had 12 terminals opened for traders, but trains were backing up and the railways will need two or three weeks to process them, APK-Inform said.
“Traders are continuing to search for the possibility of redirecting exports to the EU by rail or via Romanian ports, but the key barriers remain limited bandwidth logistics ability and its high cost,” APK-Inform said.
The cost of delivering Ukrainian grain to the Romanian port of Constanta is around $133 to $166 per tonne right now. Prior to the war, cost was about $40 to transport grain to Ukraine’s Black Sea ports.
Analysts have estimated Ukrainian grain exports, which were at 43 million tonnes at the start of the season, could reach only 1 million tonnes in the next month due to logistic difficulties.
Ukraine was the world’s fourth-largest grain exporter in the 2020-21 season, according to International Grains Council data, with most of its commodities shipped out via the Black Sea.
Source: World Grain
APR
2022
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