Ukrainian barley in the season-2023 will be 60% exported by road and rail through border crossing points with Romania, the analytical cooperative “Pusk”, established within the framework of the All-Ukrainian Agrarian Rada (UAR), reported.
According to the report, such a decision is explained by the rising cost of freight, as well as the threat of Russian attacks on the infrastructure of the Danube ports.
“Farmers are trying to export barley on their own for the most part. (…) Traders are not too interested in barley trade yet. Rising freight costs create powerful constraints. There is a demand for Ukrainian barley, but the grain is too expensive: for liquidity in river ports the price tag should be 110-$120/ton on terms of CPT, but farmers will not supply at such a low price”, – analysts explained.
According to their information, market participants are afraid of repeated Russian attacks on the infrastructure of the Danube ports. Besides, it is more profitable for agrarians to take barley to the borders than to Reni, particularly to Chop, where the price is $140/ton. Even farmers from the central regions have started to be interested in auto-delivery of barley to Romania – logistics is cheaper, experts added.
They also noted the activity of barley processors on the barley market. Their purchase prices are now 4500-5200 UAH/ton.
“In the first week of September, the conditional prices for barley can grow to $195-202/ton on the basis of DAP Constanta, to $142-147/ton – on the basis of SRT river ports”, – predicted in VAR.
Romania will double the capacity of its main Black Sea port of Constanta and the Danube sea lanes within two months to help Ukraine deliver grain beyond Russia’s reach, Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu told the Financial Times.
The Romanian prime minister emphasized that the plan would be implemented regardless of Russian attacks on Ukrainian ports on the other side of the Danube, on the border with Romania.
“In 2023, Ukraine will have about 40 million tons of grain for export. To (facilitate) this, we have increased capacity both in Constanta harbor and on the routes leading to Constanta harbor to make this happen. We mobilized as much as we could,” he said.
Ciolacu recalled that Romania’s promise to expand the shipping corridor by deepening the Danube and expanding port infrastructure came after Russia withdrew from the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which allowed Ukrainian grain to reach world markets via the Black Sea. Moscow also threatened commercial ships and prevented them from leaving Ukrainian ports, which led to exports being diverted through the Danube.
“We have learned well the lessons related to Russia. We have zero dependence on Russian energy and resources. Our support for Ukraine is unconditional,” the Romanian Prime Minister emphasized.
According to him, increasing the capacity of the Black Sea port of Constanta and other routes will allow Ukrainian grain exports to reach 4 million tons per month.
Ciolacu said that investments are currently being made in the Sulina Canal. In addition, there are other “solutions”, such as allowing ships to transit at night from October and increasing cargo transportation to at least 14 ships per day. Doubling the size of barges also “means that Ukraine will not have to use grain warehouses as often,” he said.
The prime minister informed that Romania will open more road border crossings and improve its railroad infrastructure at stations bordering Ukraine to speed up cargo handling.
“Romania has remained silent on military aid to Kiev,” the FT writes and adds that increased military and infrastructure spending related to the war in Ukraine is having an impact on the country’s budget. Romania’s central bank predicts the budget deficit will jump to 7.5% of gross domestic product this year, well above the target of 4.4% and 6.2% in 2022.
Ciolacu intends to meet with EU officials in Brussels this week to discuss measures to close the financing gap. He said there was “no possibility” that the EU would cut Romania’s funding to impose more austerity on Bucharest.
“We had to reorganize the budget to help Ukrainian supplies,” the prime minister said, adding that he would try to get EU approval to take war-related items outside the deficit calculations.
“These were unanticipated expenditures … so we will need an exemption from the tax code,” Ciolacu summarized.
The Cabinet of Ministers has resumed sugar exports to Romania and set a quota for the supply of this product in the amount of 20,000 tonnes until September 15.
As the representative of the Cabinet of Ministers in the Verkhovna Rada, Taras Melnychuk, reported on his Telegram channel, the decision to amend the volume of quotas for goods which export is subject to licensing, approved by government resolution No. 1466 dated December 27, 2022 “On approval of the lists of goods, the export and import of which is subject to licensing and quotas for 2023” adopted at a government meeting on Friday.
According to the report, applications for obtaining licenses will be considered in the manner established by the Ministry of Economy, and the issuance of licenses – based on applications for obtaining licenses to export such goods to Romania and approvals by the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food.
Licenses will be issued within one day without the involvement of a subject of foreign economic activity as part of the interagency exchange of information.
An earthquake with a magnitude of 4.1 on the Richter scale was recorded in the area of the Vrancea mountains in Romania on Sunday, the Main Center of Special Control reported.
“On June 17, 2023 at 13:13:06 (Kiev time), the Main Special Control Center registered an earthquake from the territory of Romania, in the area of the Vrancea Mountains, with a magnitude of 4.1 (on the Richter scale),” the SCSC said in a Facebook post on Saturday.
This earthquake is reportedly classified as barely perceptible according to the earthquake classification. The vibrations are only felt by individuals who are calm indoors, especially on the upper floors. This earthquake does not pose a threat to the population of Ukraine.
The last powerful earthquakes from the Vrancea area were registered on December 16 and 17, 2022 with magnitudes of 4.1 and 4.4, (on the Richter scale), respectively.
From Monday, April 24, Romania will start sealing vehicles carrying Ukrainian agricultural products in transit, Ukrtransbesecurity reported in a telegram on Sunday following a meeting between Ukrainian Agrarian Policy Minister Mykola Solskyi and his Romanian counterpart Petru Dea.
“The Romanian customs authorities will install seals on trucks with Ukrainian agricultural transit goods,” the release said.
According to it, it is important for carriers transiting through Romania to prepare a truck for sealing and to arrive at the border only after fulfilling the relevant conditions.
Earlier this week, similar requirements for the sealing of transit Ukrainian agricultural road freight were introduced by Poland
Romania, Hungary and Slovakia will not limit the transit of agricultural products from Ukraine, but negotiations continue on the issue of imports into the countries’ territory. Imports into Poland in transit mode will resume with a T1 declaration, with the use of the SENT system to track the movement of cargo through Poland and cargo seals, said Agrarian Policy Minister Mykola Solsky at an extraordinary meeting of the Coordinating Council under the Agrarian Policy Ministry on Tuesday evening.
According to him, shipments of agricultural products, which will be delivered to Poland in transit, will continue to move across the country’s territory at 00:00 on April 21, accompanied by Polish customs officers.
The issue of transit by rail with the transshipment from wide-rail wagons (for tracks 1520 mm) to narrow-rail (for tracks 1435 mm) is still open. Market participants are expected to receive details of the procedure tomorrow at the Coordinating Council of the Ministry of Agriculture, which is scheduled for 10:30 a.m.
The ban on imports of agricultural products in accordance with the list in the annex to the order of the Minister of Development and Technology of Poland Waldemar Buda from April 15, 2023 has not been canceled.
Earlier it was reported that Ukraine and Poland agreed on the resumption of transit of banned for importation agricultural products: it will work at night from April 20 to April 21, 2023. Additional control measures will be applied to the transit. According to the Ministry of Agriculture of Poland, customs, tax and other services will accompany the transport to its destination. In addition, the SENT mechanism and electronic seals will be applied, by means of which each consignment of goods will be tracked.
Poland on April 15, after the farmers’ congress, made a unilateral decision to temporarily prohibit the import of any agricultural products from Ukraine until June 30, 2023. This happened despite the fact that on July 7, a bilateral agreement was reached with Ukraine on the temporary suspension of exports of only four crops – wheat, corn, rapeseed and sunflower, while transit continued, but with stricter conditions, which the parties planned to agree on quickly.
Hungary and Slovakia made similar decisions afterwards.
