Ukraine is going to export 4 million tonnes of oil and grain crops in August. To reach an export level of up to 5-6m tonnes, it is necessary to increase the number of bulkers to 80-100, a deputy chairman of the All-Ukrainian Agrarian Council, Denys Marchuk, has said at a briefing, LB.ua correspondent Anna Steshenko reported.
"There are some improvements regarding the number of launched ships which have already departed from the Odesa port. According to the Ministry of Infrastructure, today there are more than 27 ships that have already transported 670,000 tonnes of agricultural products. This is quite a good indicator since these are mostly ships that were previously blocked and could not leave the port when the war broke out," he said.
According to Marchuk, so far, "August marked a full-fledged start of the movement of ships with Ukrainian grain".
A total of 4m tonnes of oil and grain crops will be exported by rail, road, and sea in August. In July, this figure did not exceed 3m tonnes.
"If security conditions under the Istanbul agreements are observed in the future, we will continue to export our crops," Marchuk added.
According to his forecast, in such case Ukraine will be able to export 5-6m tonnes monthly. Before the full-scale invasion, Ukraine exported at least 6m tonnes monthly.
"If there is more, we will be glad and interested. Because we still have carry-over stocks of about 18m tonnes. Crop harvesting is in its active phase now. About 20m tonnes of grain of the new crop have been gathered and threshed. The more exports, the more currency proceeds we get... Additionally, we urgently need working capital for agricultural producers. We are finishing harvesting and farmers will start sowing winter crops after 20 August. Therefore, we need these funds badly. If the exports continue, if in September we get 4m to 5m tonnes of exported crop, this will be a good result. We would like to see more ships by the autumn. The figure being discussed may be plausible, it is about 80 to 100 vessels... This will make it possible to fulfill the plan of 5m tonnes of export," he said.
As of 20 August, since the launch of the so-called grain corridor, 27 ships loaded with 670,000 tonnes of agricultural products have left Ukrainian ports.