JSC “Ukrzaliznytsia” (UZ) in August 2022 exported a record 1.6 million tons of grain cargo since the beginning of Russian aggression, which is 1.74 times higher than in July (917 thousand tons), this growth was achieved thanks to the unblocking three Ukrainian seaports within the framework of the Istanbul grain agreements.
At the same time, 805,000 tons of grain were transported through land border crossings on the western border last month (in July – 716,000 tons), and 795,000 tons (190,000 tons) were delivered to ports, such data were announced by the Deputy Director of the Department of Commercial Work UZ Valery Tkachev during an online meeting with industry participants on Thursday.
According to him, in August, Ukrzaliznytsia loaded a total of 1.74 million tons of grain cargo into wagons, which is 18.7% of the total loaded volume of 9.28 million tons, and transported a total of 2.08 million tons of grain.
According to him, in August this year, the average daily loading of UZ wagons amounted to 56,000 tons. In early August, this figure varied between 24-40 thousand tons, but with the start of full-fledged operation of the grain corridor under the Istanbul agreements, loading increased to 50-80 thousand tons / day.
“We even have a record for the average daily loading of grain on August 31 – 91.53 thousand tons. I see that we will soon reach the threshold of an average daily loading of 100 thousand tons / day, and I hope that this will be already in September. In general, I see a very positive trend in the transportation of grain cargo,” the Deputy Director emphasized during the meeting.
In August, Ukrzaliznytsia also exported 107.9 thousand tons of sunflower oil, as well as 148.7 thousand tons of all kinds of meal, through land border crossings and ports.
The Deputy Director clarified that over the specified period, the average daily handling of wagons of all types at border crossings dipped slightly – to 1.848 thousand wagons from 1.86 thousand wagons in early August (by 15 wagons per day), however, the transfer of wagons for grain cargo increased by 18 % (+71 wagon/day) – up to 469 grain wagons per day against 398 units. in July.
The UZ representative clarified that by September 1, the total queue of wagons of all nomenclatures at the border had decreased by 21% (or 6.53 thousand wagons) compared to August 1, to 25.12 thousand units. from 31.5 thousand units. At the same time, by the indicated date, 8.48 thousand wagons with grain were in the queue (-15% or 1.5 thousand wagons by August 1), 433 wagons with vegetable oil (half as much) and 605 wagons with meal of all types (- 24%).
“This result was achieved because Ukrzaliznytsia took measures to improve the planning system. Let me remind you that this is the result of the fact that we began to coordinate loading plans according to the algorithm, guided by the delivery indicators for the previous month and taking into account the presence of queues. We are also working with carriers so that they do not inflate the plan, and we confirm only the volume that they are actually ready to take from them at the junction,” Tkachev summed up.
Since the beginning of the 2022/2023 marketing year (MY, July-June), Ukraine has exported 3.96 million tonnes of grain crops, including 2.49 million tonnes of corn (63% of total supplies), 1.14 million tonnes of wheat (29%) and 310,000 tonnes of barley (12%).
As reported on the website of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food on Wednesday, since the beginning of the current marketing year, the rate of grain exports has been 2.17 times lower than in the same period last year (in July 1-August 31, 2021, some 8.6 million tonnes were exported).
At the same time, according to the ministry, for the period of August 26-31, some 550,000 tonnes of grain crops were supplied to foreign markets (110,000 tonnes daily), while for the previous period, August 19-26, – 430,000 tonnes of grain crops (61,400 tonnes daily), on August 11-19 – 770,000 tonnes (96,200 tonnes daily), and on August 5-11 – 340,000 tonnes of grain crops (48,600 tonnes daily). Thus, the average daily export rates for the past reporting period increased by 1.8 times compared to the previous period.
In general, from the beginning of MY 2022/2023 to August 31, 2022, Ukraine exported 1.14 million tonnes of wheat (four times less compared to the same date in MY 2021/2022), 310,000 tonnes of barley (8.9 times less) , 500 tonnes of rye (25 times less) and 11,900 tonnes of flour (two times less).
In total, 310,000 tonnes of corn, 202,000 tonnes of wheat, 36,000 tonnes of barley, 100 tonnes of rye and 1,800 tonnes of flour were delivered to foreign markets for the period of August 26-31.
Since the beginning of the 2022/2023 marketing year (MY, July-June), Ukraine has exported 3.41 million tons of grain crops, including 2.18 million tons of corn (64% of total supplies), 937 thousand tons of wheat (27.5% ) and 274 thousand tons of barley (8%).
As reported on the website of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food on Friday, since the beginning of the current MY, the rate of grain exports has been 2.06 times lower than the same period last year (7.0 million tons were exported from July 1 to August 26, 2021).
At the same time, according to the agency, for the period of August 19-26, 430 thousand tons of grain crops were delivered to foreign markets (61.4 thousand tons daily), while for the previous period of August 11-19 – 770 thousand tons (96 .2 thousand tons daily), for August 5-11 – 340 thousand tons of grain crops (48.6 thousand tons daily), and for July 27-August 5 – 640 thousand tons of grain crops (71.1 thousand tons). tons per day). Thus, the average daily export rates over the past week decreased by 36.1% compared to the previous period.
In general, from the beginning of 2022/2023 MY and until August 26, 2022, Ukraine exported 937 thousand tons of wheat (3.6 times less compared to the same date in 2021/2022 MY), 274 thousand tons of barley (8.7 times less) and 10.1 thousand tons of flour (half as much).
However, the pace of corn exports exceeded last year’s volumes – 2.18 million tons were exported, which is 1.8 times more than in 2021/2022 MY. In addition, this week Ukraine for the first time since the beginning of 2022/2023 MY exported rye, 400 tons of this crop were sent to foreign markets. In total for the week of August 19-26, 240 thousand tons of corn, 154 thousand tons of wheat, 17 thousand tons of barley and 2.7 thousand tons of flour were delivered to foreign markets.
As reported, in MY 2021/2022, Ukraine exported 48.51 million tons of grains and legumes, which is 8.4% higher than in the previous marketing year, despite the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation and difficulties with the export of agricultural products due to the blockade of Ukrainian seaports. 18.74 million tons of wheat were delivered to foreign markets (12.6% more than in 2020/2021MY), 23.54 million tons of corn (+1.9%), 5.75 million tons of barley (+35.9%) , 70.9 thousand tons of flour (-44.1%).
In 2020/2021 MY, the country exported 44.72 million tons of grain and leguminous crops: 16.64 million tons of wheat, 23.08 million tons of corn, 4.23 million tons of barley, 126.9 thousand tons of flour and 18.4 thousand . tons of rye.
In 2019/2020 MY, Ukraine exported 56.72 million tons of grain and leguminous crops.
JSC “Ukrzaliznytsia” (UZ) for the period from August 1 to 23, 2022 exported 1.16 million tons of grain cargo, which is 28% more than in July (917 thousand tons), including through land border crossings 549 thousand tons were transported on the western border (in July – 716 thousand tons), and 467 thousand tons were delivered to the ports (last month – 190 thousand tons).
For 23 days of August, Ukrzaliznytsia loaded 1.16 million tons of grain cargo into wagons, which is 17% of the total loaded volume of 6.9 million tons, such data were announced by Valery Tkachev, Deputy Director of the Department of Commercial Work of UZ, during an online meeting with participants industry on Thursday.
“In March, we had 41.6 thousand tons in export traffic, in July – 917 thousand tons, and for 23 days of August we already have 1.16 million tons. Congratulations to everyone, I already see that we are gradually increasing the volumes transportation, but this is still not enough. Let me remind you that before the war we transported up to 4 million tons in export traffic per month,” Tkachev said during the meeting.
He explained that such an increase in exports to Ukraine was ensured by the Istanbul grain agreements, which unblocked the export of grain cargo from three seaports in the Odessa region in August.
“The share of grain both in terms of loading, and in the delivery of wagons, and in joints is growing. This indicates that farmers quickly adapt to the military situation and begin to load and transport more,” the deputy director commented on the increase in the share of grain cargo to 17% in August from 14% in July.
According to him, for August 1-23, the average daily loading of UZ wagons amounted to 50.2 thousand tons, while earlier this figure was 39-47 thousand tons.
According to Tkachev, since the beginning of August, Ukrzaliznytsia has exported 71,000 tons of sunflower oil, as well as 78,000 tons of cakes and meals of all kinds.
The Deputy Director specified that by August 23, the average daily handling of all types of wagons at border crossings had dipped slightly – to 1.84 thousand wagons from 1.86 thousand wagons in early August, however, the transfer of wagons for grain increased by 12% – to 444 wagons per day against 390 wagons at the beginning of the month.
The UZ representative clarified that the total queue at the crossings as of August 23 amounted to 27.1 thousand cars of all nomenclatures, while at the beginning of the month it was 14% more – 31.5 thousand cars. At the same time, by August 23, there were 8.7 thousand wagons with grain (-12% against the beginning of the month) and 506 wagons with vegetable oil (-41%) in the queue.
“In general, the transfer of wagons at the joints is increasing, the queues with grain are decreasing, while we still have a difficult situation at the Romanian border crossings (Vadul-Siret – Dyakovo), at the Polish border crossing Yagodyn-Dorohusk, where business has actively gone, and the difficult situation remains at Batevo – Epereshke,” Tkachev summed up during the meeting.
The Joint Coordination Centre (JCC) has authorized the movement of five more vessels carrying more than 85,000 tonnes of grain and other food from Ukrainian ports, the UN has reported.
“JCC has authorized the movement of five ships carrying a total of 85,110 tonnes of grain and food under the Black Sea Grain Initiative,” the report says.
The UN said that the Ascanios ship with 58,500 tonnes of corn is destined for Germany, the Mohamad Y ships carrying 11,000 tonnes of wheat and the Bellis carrying 6,000 tonnes of soybeans will travel to Israel. Two more vessels – Oris Sofi and Zelek Star – is transporting 5,900 tonnes of sunflower oil and 3,700 tonnes of peas to Turkey, respectively.
In addition, on Wednesday, the JCC completed the inspection of six vessels following to Ukrainian ports – Canopus, Helga, Lady Zehma, Melina, Michalis and Sealock, as well as three vessels from Ukraine – Kubrosli, Maranta, Great Arsena.
They all were confirmed to sail, the UN said.
The joint inspection teams are scheduled to conduct the following inspections on Thursday: five inbound vessels moving to Ukrainian ports – Golden Yara, Irmgard, Simas, Lady Aillar, Queen Sara, and one outbound vessel – Kafkametler.
“As of August 24, the total tonnage of grain and other foodstuffs exported from three Ukrainian ports is 769,986 tonnes,” the report says.
On July 22, in Istanbul, with the participation of the UN, Ukraine, Turkey and Russia, two documents were signed on the creation of a corridor for the export of grain from three Ukrainian sea trade ports – Chornomorsk, Odesa and Pivdenny.
The Ukrainian Grain Association (UGA) has reduced the forecast for the harvest of grain and oilseeds in Ukraine in 2022 by 7.1% compared to the July forecast – to 64.5 million tons from 69.4 million tons, according to the UGA website .
This change in forecasts was caused by a 5.8% reduction in sown areas under these crops to 18.0 million hectares from 19.1 million hectares due to the consequences of Russian aggression in Ukraine.
“Despite the stubbornness and courage of Ukrainian farmers, there are objective obstacles to harvesting in mined, occupied areas and destroyed crops,” the UGA statement says.
According to her, the total export of grain and oilseeds from Ukraine in the 2022/2023 marketing year (MY, July-June) can reach 32.8 million tons (in the July forecast – 31.5 million tons), provided that sea grain corridors are maintained and further expanding the capacity of border crossings on the western borders of Ukraine. At the same time, the transitional balances of agricultural products in the country at the beginning of MY 2022/2023 amounted to 26 million tons of grain and oilseeds, and by the end of the MY they are expected to increase to 30.5 million tons.
“In general, the export of grains and oilseeds in 2022/2023 MY can be expected at the indicated level if the Ukrainian Black Sea ports for export remain open. Export of grain through Ukrainian ports and ensuring the safety of navigation in the Black Sea is the only way to quickly and efficiently supply Ukrainian grain to countries who are in dire need of it,” the organization said in a statement.
According to UGA forecasts, in 2022, a wheat harvest is expected at the level of 19 million tons (-8.6% compared to the July forecast of the organization); 24 million tons of corn (-12.1%); 5.4 million tons of barley (-18%); 9 million tons of sunflower (forecast kept); 2.2 million tons of soybeans (forecast kept); 3 million tons of rapeseed (2 times increase).
In the August forecast, the Association retained its export forecasts compared to July – for example, wheat exports in 2022/2023 MY are expected to be at the level of 10 million tons, corn – 10 million tons, barley – 2 million tons, sunflower – 6 million tons, soybeans – 1 .8 million tons. However, rapeseed exports will double to 2.8 million tons.
As reported with reference to the data of the State Statistics Service, in 2021 Ukraine harvested a record harvest of grain and leguminous crops in the amount of 85.7 million tons, which is 32% more than in 2020. In total, 32.07 million tons of wheat (+28.9%), 41.87 million tons of corn (+38.2%) and 9.42 million tons of barley (+23.3%) were harvested.
Ukraine in 2021 also harvested 16.38 million tons of sunflower (+25% compared to 2020), 10.8 million tons of sugar beet (+18.1%), 3.5 million tons of soybeans (+24.4%), 2.92 million tons of rapeseed and 42 thousand tons of oilseed flax (an increase of 3.7 times).
The Ukrainian Grain Association (UGA) is an association of producers, processors and large grain exporters who annually export about 90% of Ukrainian grain products.
