Ukraine in January-April this year reduced the export of cast iron by 52.7% compared to the same period last year, to 451,142 tonnes.
According to statistics released by the State Customs Service (SCS), over the specified period, the export of cast iron in monetary terms decreased 50.4%, to $220.179 million.
At the same time, exports were carried out mainly to the United States (52.42% of deliveries in monetary terms), Turkey (18.58%) and Italy (17.59%).
In January-April 2022, Ukraine imported 15 tonnes of cast iron from Germany for $25,000, while in the first four months of 2021 it imported 46 tonnes of cast iron for $49,000 from Germany (76%) and Slovakia (24%).
As reported, Ukraine in 2021 increased the export of cast iron by 4.2% compared to 2020, to 3.236 million tonnes, the export of cast iron in monetary terms grew by 78.1%, to $1.643 billion. At the same time, exports were carried out mainly to the United States (53.61% of deliveries in monetary terms), Italy (22.08%) and Turkey (9.74%).
In 2021, Ukraine imported 185 tonnes of pig iron worth $226,000 from Germany (74.34%), the Russian Federation (20.35%) and Slovakia (5.31%), while in 2020 it imported 593 tonnes worth $417,000.
For the period from May 1 through May 19, 2022, Ukraine exported 643,000 tonnes of grain crops, while the export rate increased: for the week from May 12 to May 19, 344,000 tonnes were delivered to foreign markets, while for a week and a half of this month (from May 1 through May 12) this figure amounted to 299,000 tonnes.
However, as reported on the website of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food on Thursday, the rate of grain exports since the beginning of May this year is 2.8 times lower compared to the same period last year (1.8 million tonnes were exported from May 1 to May 19, 2021).
Such a decline in the ministry is explained by the blockade of Ukrainian seaports, a key export infrastructure, by the troops of the aggressor country of the Russian Federation.
According to the Ministry of Agrarian Policy, since the beginning of 2021/22 (July-June) and as of May 19, the country has exported 46.51 million tonnes of grain and leguminous crops, which is 13.8% higher than the figures for the same date of the previous year. This excess of last year’s indicators is caused by a record harvest in the current year and the high intensity of its export before the Russian invasion on February 24.
In total, from the beginning of 2021/22 as of May 19, 2022, Ukraine had exported 18.54 million tonnes of wheat (18.7% more compared to the same date in 2020/21), 21.83 million tonnes of corn (6.9% more), 5.68 million tonnes of barley (37.2% more), 70,600 tonnes of flour (35.7% less).
For the period from May 12 to May 19, 333,000 tonnes of corn, 10,000 tonnes of wheat and 600 tonnes of flour were exported. Barley and rye were not exported during the specified period. In total, since the beginning of May, 617,000 tonnes of corn, 16,000 tonnes of wheat, 8,000 tonnes of barley and 1,100 tonnes of flour have been exported.
If to compare the current data of the agro-industrial complex portal with its indicators as of February 21, the last update before the Russian military invasion of Ukraine, it could be established that during the war Ukraine exported 3.97 million tonnes of grain and leguminous crops, of which 3.14 million tonnes of corn, 690,000 million tonnes of wheat, 110,000 tonnes of barley and 4,000 tonnes of flour.
Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal says that Ukraine is not only significantly expanding its export opportunities, but also continues to integrate as much as possible into European projects.
“We are not only significantly expanding our export opportunities, but also continuing to integrate as much as possible into European projects. This is very important on the way to our full membership in the EU,” Shmyhal said at a government meeting on Friday.
The prime minister said that on May 12, the European Commission announced the creation of “Solidarity Lanes,” a route that would speed up exports and the work of customs between Ukraine and the EU.
“In order to speed up logistics, the European Commission will also create a special platform for simplified border crossings across the solidarity lanes and encourage EU market participants to provide additional trucks and other transportation capacities,” he said.
In addition, Shmyhal said the European Commission had already decided to conclude an agreement with Ukraine and update the map of the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T).
The export of Ukrainian agricultural products through the EU countries, including taking into account deliveries through the Danube river ports, cannot exceed 1.5 million tons per month under any circumstances, while before the blockade of its seaports by the Russian troops, the country could transship more than 5 million tons per month. million tons of agricultural crops per month.
The opinion about the need for Ukraine to work on the launch of new logistics routes and export directions was expressed by First Deputy Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food Taras Vysotsky during the expert discussion “Blocked trade: can Ukraine increase export capacity” on Friday.
“We preliminary calculated that up to one and a half million tons is still the maximum. Therefore, I think that we can count on this until May, and then only alternative directions,” Vysotsky said.
He clarified that Ukraine has enough agricultural products for export, and Ukrainian farmers can supply as much grain as they need to foreign markets, and the volume of its exports is limited only by logistics.
As reported with reference to the Minister of Agrarian Policy Mykola Solsky, in April 2022 Ukraine exported 1.09 million tons of grain mainly through Romanian ports, which is more than five times higher than in March.
According to him, most of the export deliveries from Ukraine were carried out in April through the river ports of the Danube, since the Ukrainian Black Sea ports are blocked by Russian warships.
At the same time, the logistics of Ukrainian agricultural products through Romania may become more complicated and slow down in June, when a new crop of Romanian, Serbian, Hungarian and Bulgarian winter wheat and barley will begin to arrive at the seaports of this country and will create competition with supplies from Ukraine.
The export of Ukrainian agricultural products through the EU countries, taking into account deliveries through the Danube river ports, cannot exceed 1.5 million tonnes per month under any circumstances, while before the blockade of its seaports by the Russian troops, the country could monthly transship over 5 million tonnes of agricultural crops per month.
An opinion about a need for Ukraine to work on the launch of new logistics routes and export directions was expressed by First Deputy Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food Taras Vysotsky during the expert discussion “Blocked trade: can Ukraine increase export capacity” on Friday.
“We preliminary calculated that up to 1.5 million tonnes are still the maximum. Therefore, I think that we can count on this until May, and then only alternative directions,” Vysotsky said.
He clarified that Ukraine has enough agricultural products for export, and Ukrainian farmers can supply as much grain as they need to foreign markets, and the volume of its exports is limited only by logistics.
As reported with reference to Minister of Agrarian Policy Mykola Solsky, in April 2022 Ukraine exported 1.09 million tonnes of grain mainly through Romanian ports, which is more than five times higher than in March.
According to him, most of the export deliveries from Ukraine were carried out in April through the Danube river ports, since the Ukrainian Black Sea ports are blocked by Russian warships.
At the same time, the logistics of Ukrainian agricultural products through Romania may become more complicated and slow down in June, when a new crop of Romanian, Serbian, Hungarian and Bulgarian winter wheat and barley will begin to arrive at the seaports of this country and will create competition with supplies from Ukraine.
The European Commission has presented a set of actions to help Ukraine export agricultural products, the so-called “Solidarity Lanes.”
The plan was presented by European Commissioner for Transport Adina Vălean in Brussels on Thursday.
The European Commission said these proposals are presented as part of the EU solidarity reaction with Ukraine and will help Ukraine export its agricultural products. “Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and its blockade of Ukrainian ports, Ukrainian grain and other agricultural goods can no longer reach their destinations. The situation is threatening global food security and there is an urgent need to establish alternative logistics routes using all relevant transport modes,” the European Commission said.
According to the European Commissioner, some 20 million tonnes of grains have to leave Ukraine in less than three months using the EU infrastructure. “This is a gigantesque challenge, so it is essential to coordinate and optimize the logistic chains, put in place new routes, and avoid, as much as possible, the bottlenecks. Our communication addresses the emergency solutions but also medium and long time measures to better connect and integrate Ukraine’s infrastructure with the EU one. For both short-term and long-term solutions, we will work with the Ukrainian authorities and in close collaboration, especially with the neighbouring Member States, who spared no effort in helping during this crisis,” Vălean said.
According to the press release issued in this regard, as of today, in spite of immediate efforts by the EU and its Member States to ease border crossings between Ukraine and the EU, thousands of wagons and lorries are waiting for clearance on the Ukrainian side. “The average current waiting time for wagons is 16 days, while it is up to 30 days at some borders. More grain is still stored and held back in Ukrainian silos ready for export. Among the challenges are differing rail gauge widths: Ukrainian wagons are not compatible with most of the EU rail network, so most goods need to be transhipped to lorries or wagons that fit the EU standard gauge. This process is time-consuming and transhipment facilities along the borders are scarce,” the European Commission said.
In address these obstacles and set up the Solidarity Lanes, the Commission, together with Member States and stakeholders, will work on the following priority actions in the short term.
The first priorities are additional freight rolling stock, vessels and lorries. “The Commission calls on EU market players to urgently make additional vehicles available. In order to match demand and supply and establish the relevant contacts, the Commission will set up a matchmaking logistics platform and ask Member States to designate dedicated Solidarity Lanes contact points (a ‘one-stop-shop’).”
Another priority is the capacity of transport networks and transshipment terminals: the export of Ukrainian agricultural products should be prioritized, and infrastructure managers should make rail slots available for these exports. “The Commission also calls on market players to urgently transfer mobile grain loaders to the relevant border terminals to speed up transhipment. A road transport agreement with Ukraine will also remove bottlenecks,” the European Commission said.
Among the priorities are customs operations and other inspections and storage of products in the EU. To this end, the Commission urges national authorities to apply maximum flexibility and to ensure adequate staffing to accelerate procedures at border crossing points.
In the medium to long term, the Commission will also work on increasing the infrastructure capacity of new export corridors and on establishing new infrastructure connections in the framework of the reconstruction of Ukraine. “The next round of Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) calls for proposals will allow support for projects improving transport connections to Ukraine, including for railway connections and rail-road terminals. Against this background, the Commission today adopted a Decision with a view to signing a high-level agreement with Ukraine, updating the maps for the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T), as part of the Commission’s policy on extending the TEN-T to neighbouring countries.”
