Exports of agricultural products from Ukraine based on the results of December 2023, thanks to the work of the temporary sea corridor, may exceed 6 million tons.
As reported by Ukrinform, this was reported by Ukragroconsult.
“Exports of agricultural products for December 1-15 amounted to 3.38 million tons, which is 20% more than in the same period of the previous month. Exports of agricultural products in December should exceed 6 million tons, which became possible thanks to the opening of the Ukrainian shipping route,” the report says.
Against the backdrop of increased activity at seaports, from December 1 to 15, the share of land exports in total exports decreased to 14.1%. At the same time, the role of Danube ports in the first half of December was the lowest for the entire 2023.
Exports by sea through the ports of the Danube region amounted to 0.56 million tons in the first half of December, which is far behind the same period last month. According to analysts, the Danube region is gradually losing its attractiveness for exporters, which is due to the opening of a much cheaper export option through Odessa ports.
It is noted that partly thanks to the activity of the ports of the Danube region, in January-November the Romanian port of Constanta shipped 32.6 million tons of grain and set a record (the previous annual record was just over 25 million tons). Ukrainian grain amounted to 13 million tons, that is, about 40% of the total transshipment volume. In 2022, the volume of transshipped agricultural products from Ukraine at the port of Constanta amounted to 8.6 million tons.
Analysts note that the rate of export of agricultural products by road is decreasing towards the end of the year due to the continuation of strikes on the Ukrainian-Polish border. According to Ukragroconsult, a queue of almost 4 thousand trucks has formed to enter Ukraine from Poland.
At the same time, railway export rates in the first weeks of December are somewhat behind the rates of previous months. Total exports in December are forecast at 800-900 thousand tons, which is no different from the average for the last 4 months. As of December 19, 6.6 thousand wagons with grain (or about 400 thousand tons) were sent to the sea ports of Ukraine, which is almost a thousand more than a week earlier.
As Ukrinform reported, on August 10, Ukraine announced new temporary routes for merchant ships traveling to/from the Black Sea seaports of Ukraine. These routes have primarily been used for the exit of civilian ships located in the Ukrainian ports of Chernomorsk, Odessa and Yuzhny since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion on February 24, 2022.
In September of this year, ships began to ply along a temporary sea corridor for loading Ukrainian goods at Odessa seaports. During the 4 months of operation of the corridor, 10 million tons of cargo were transported.
Photo: Minagro