Ukrzaliznytsia plans to change average transportation speeds for grain cars starting June 16, according to Valery Tkachov, deputy director of the commercial department at Ukrzaliznytsia (UZ) Valery Tkachov during an online meeting with participants in the agricultural market.
He noted that for grain cars of the Center for Transport Logistics branch of JSC Ukrzaliznytsia on domestic and import transportation, the speed for car dispatch will be 111 km/day, for route trains — 258 km/day; for export transportation via land crossings — 144 km/day and 217 km/day, respectively; for export transportation to port stations — 189 km/day and 323 km/day, respectively.
Tkachov added that these transport speeds will be taken into account exclusively when calculating the cost of using Ukrzaliznytsia JSC wagons.
As of June 11, Ukraine had exported 39.256 million tons of grains and legumes since the beginning of the 2024-2025 marketing year (July-June), of which 884,000 tons were shipped since the beginning of the current month, according to the press service of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food, citing data from the State Customs Service.
According to the report, as of June 12 last year, total shipments were estimated at 48.381 million tons, including 1.449 million tons in June.
At the same time, since the beginning of the current season, 15.184 million tons of wheat (17.839 million tons in 2023/2024 MY) have been exported, 2.312 million tons of barley (2.437 million tons), 10.8 thousand tons of rye (1.6 thousand tons), and 21.169 million tons of corn (27.57 million tons). (1.6 thousand tons), corn – 21.169 million tons (27.57 million tons).
Total exports of Ukrainian flour since the beginning of the season as of June 11 are estimated at 66.7 thousand tons (in 2023/24 MY – 94.6 thousand tons), including wheat flour – 62.3 thousand tons (89.3 thousand tons).
Two flour processing plants will be built in Ukraine in 2025 – flour will be produced in western Ukraine, and cereals in the Poltava region, according to an interview with Interfax-Ukraine by Rodion Rybchinsky, director of the Ukrainian Flour Millers Association.
“Currently, a plant for the production of hard wheat flour with a capacity of up to 150 tons per day is being built in western Ukraine, with further processing of pasta, and in the Poltava region, a cereal plant with a combined capacity of up to 100 tons per day is expected to be launched,” he said.
According to the head of the industry association, there are niches in the flour milling business that are worth paying attention to.
“When we talk about grain processing, we must remember that it is not just flour or cereals. There are also combined products: dry breakfasts, energy bars, starch, dry gluten, enzyme preparations based on grain processing products — a very wide range of processed products,” Rybchynsky emphasized, adding that the main priority in the construction of such a production facility is the availability of buyers.
According to him, the cost of building a mill or a cereal plant in Ukraine starts at $3 million, but there are examples of businesses in Ukraine with a higher price tag of $15 million. This amount includes the cost of equipment and buildings (fixed assets), excluding working capital, which can reach 50% of the project cost. After all, in order to launch an enterprise, it is necessary to purchase raw materials, actively enter the market, and anticipate marketing costs, etc.
Rybchinsky also does not rule out the prospect of building a number of flour mills on the Black Sea coast, following the example of Turkey.
“Uzbekistan and Egypt have followed the same path as the Turks. The Uzbeks buy Kazakh grain, grind it, and have become the main exporter of flour to Afghanistan, from where they have ousted Kazakhstan. Egypt buys Ukrainian and Russian grain and has become the leading supplier of flour to the African market, partially displacing both the Turks and the French. All this points to the existence of a state policy,” he stressed, adding that the first step towards such a development of processing in Ukraine should be the interest of the state.
As of June 4, Ukraine had exported 38.505 million tons of grains and legumes since the beginning of the 2024-2025 marketing year (July-June), of which 202,000 tons were shipped this month, according to the press service of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food, citing data from the State Customs Service. were shipped this month, according to the press service of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food, citing data from the State Customs Service.
According to the report, as of June 7 last year, total shipments amounted to 47.734 million tons, including 802,000 tons in June.
At the same time, in terms of crops, since the beginning of the current season, 14.906 million tons of wheat (43,000 tons in June), 2.305 million tons of barley (no exports), 10,800 tons of rye (0), corn – 20.728 million tons (158 thousand tons).
Total exports of Ukrainian flour since the beginning of the season as of June 4 are estimated at 65.4 thousand tons (in June – 0.4 thousand tons), including wheat flour – 61 thousand tons (0.4 thousand tons).
As of May 26, Ukraine has exported 37.722 million tons of grain and leguminous crops since the beginning of the 2024/25 marketing year (MY), of which 2.454 million tons were shipped this month, according to the press service of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food, citing data from the State Customs Service of Ukraine.
According to the report, as of May 29 last year, total shipments amounted to 46.353 million tons, including 4.947 million tons in May.
At the same time, in terms of crops, since the beginning of the current season, 14.635 million tons of wheat (732,000 tons in May), 2.293 million tons of barley (26,000 tons), 10,800 tons of rye (0), corn – 20.234 million tons (1.685 million tons).
Total exports of Ukrainian flour since the beginning of the season as of May 26 are estimated at 63.7 thousand tons (in May – 5.1 thousand tons), including wheat flour – 59.4 thousand tons (5 thousand tons).
The volume of grain transported by Ukrzaliznytsia in January-April 2025 decreased by almost 33% compared to the same period last year, to 10.092 million tons, according to Valery Tkachov, deputy director of the company’s commercial department.
“From January to April, 10.092 million tons of grain were transported by rail. Compared to last year, we have seen a decline in transportation of almost 33%, or 4.96 million tons,” Tkachov said at an online meeting with the agricultural market on Thursday.
According to him, one of the reasons for the decline is the large volumes of transportation in the first half of 2024, related to the operation of the “grain corridor,” which started in October 2023.
“Due to the fact that the ‘grain corridor’ began operating in October 2023, farmers did not have time to harvest their crops, and therefore these volumes were transferred to the first half of 2024,” Tkachev explained.
Another reason for the reduction in grain shipments by rail in 2025 is a slight decrease in the grain harvest.
The third reason is the lack of complete data in the system, as due to the cyberattack on March 23, shipping documents were issued in paper form for some time. On April 4, Tkachov reported that since the date of the cyberattack, shippers had issued more than 50,000 documents in paper form, and that this number had now been reduced to 4,000. He admitted that once all transport documents had been entered into the electronic system, the freight vertical’s performance indicators would be adjusted.
Of the 10.092 million tons of grain transported in January-April, 8.958 million tons were exported, with exports amounting to 2.76 million tons in January, 2.25 million tons in February, 1.68 million tons in March, and 1.1 million tons in April.
The volume of grain transported in the first 20 days of May amounted to 1.207 million tons, with an average daily load of approximately 73,000 tons.
At the same time, 89% of the grain transported by rail in May was destined for ports, compared to 92.6% in April and 90% in March. Only 10% of all grain transported for export went through western land crossings.
The situation is different for vegetable oil, with only 37.1% of the total volume transported to ports in May. In April, this figure reached 47.3%. The rest of the oil is transported through western land crossings. In total, 511.4 thousand tons of oil and 799.4 thousand tons of oilcake and meal were exported in the first four months of 2025.
