LVIV, Ukraine (Reuters) – Ukraine’s state-run railway operator is ready to organise agricultural exports by rail as a matter of urgency, it mentioned on Sunday, after closure of the nation’s Black Sea ports due to the navy invasion by Russia.
A serious world agricultural producer and exporter, Ukraine has traditionally exported its grain, vegetable oils and different meals merchandise by ship.
“This scenario causes issues not just for Ukraine. The share of Ukrainian grain on the world market is 11%, the share of sunflower oil is 55%,” Ukrainian Railways mentioned on social media.
“To forestall the worldwide meals disaster and save Ukrainian exports, Ukrainian Railways is ready to organise agricultural merchandise supply by rail urgently.”
Ukrainian Railways mentioned that it would ship grain to borders with Romania, Hungary, Slovakia and Poland, from the place the grain may be delivered to ports and logistics hubs of European nations.
The rail operator can ship 150 grain carriages per day to Romania, 45 to Poland, 17 to Hungary and 60 to Slovakia, with as much as 70 tonnes of grain loaded on every carriage, it added.
The agriculture ministry mentioned Ukraine had exported 43 million tonnes of varied grains within the 2021/22 season as of Feb. 23.
Ukraine elevated its grain manufacturing by 32% in 2021 to 85.7 million tonnes.
The APK-Inform agriculture consultancy on Saturday mentioned Ukraine’s 2022 spring grain sowing could possibly be restricted by the Russian invasion and potential shortages of gasoline and seeds.
Ukraine normally begins spring sowing in late February or March. The nation is a standard grower of winter wheat but additionally vegetation a major space with corn, which sows in spring.
(Reporting by Pavel Polityuk; Editing by David Goodman)
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