During the meeting of representatives of the Ukrainian and Romanian railways, Viktor Gurdish, the GFR’s representative, has announced that a new grain transshipment terminal is going to be operational in February. The facility is situated near the Dorneşti station.
Almost 7.2 million tonnes of agricultural products were exported from Ukraine in December 2023, showing an increase of 32% month-on-month or 1.7 million t compared with November. In particular, December exports included slightly less than 6 million t of grain (up 32% month-on-month or 1.5 million t)
The Ventspils Freeport handled a total of 712,000 t of various goods in December 2023 compared with 107,000 t in November 2023.
Throughout 2024, a discount of 27% will be applied to the tariff for rail transportation of agricultural products in transit through Moldova. Such agreements were reached during a meeting of the Intergovernmental Ukrainian-Moldovan Mixed Commission on Trade and Economic Cooperation on September 29, 2023 in Odesa.
Weak demand for US soybeans and improved weather in South America put pressure on relevant export quotes.
Activity is picking up in the Australian grain market. Although producer sales are minimal, the export market continues to function. Activity at ports is increasing. January grain shipments are expected to total 3.83 million t, including 2.36 million t of wheat and 965,000 t of barley.
Grain export trade from Kazakhstan has been inactive, although indicative prices have increased. Importers’ demand is weak, while supplies from Russia are growing not only on traditional markets for Kazakh traders, but also in Kazakhstan itself.
The Russian grain market has been generally calm, with export quotes showing minor changes. Players note that export shipments may slow down due to worsening weather (although they have just started to recover).
Estimates of Brazilian corn production in MY 2023-24 continue to decline, but this does not support the quotes. Farmers are harvesting first crop corn of the season 2023-24, with 4% of the areas processed (1% last year).