First cargo of Ukrainian corn since February loaded in Romanian port - S&P
The first cargo of Ukrainian corn since 24th of February has been loaded for export in Romania, S&P Global Commodity Insights said citing grains trader information.
The Panamax-sized cargo was loaded with Ukrainian corn in the Romanian port of Constanta, a trader told S&P Global Commodity Insights. The ship was slated to sail late April 28, the trader said. Its destination was not disclosed.
The ship was loaded and sold on FOB basis, said the trader. A producer of grain, oilseeds, poultry and eggs, Ukrlandfarming has been shipping corn to Romania by rail from its elevators in Ukraine to finally load 71.2 million mt of corn, the company said.
The export of goods out of the Ukrainian Black Sea ports in the Odessa and Mykolaev regions stopped after 24th of February. As a result, Ukraine had to look for alternative routes, railways in particular. However, the export potential by rail is limited to 450,000-700,000 mt/month of grain, according to market sources, compared with 5 million-6 million mt/month previously shipped from the country. Lower export potential puts pressure on domestic prices while providing support to the international market.
Exports by rail are constrained mainly by the number of wagons and the capacities of border-crossing points with EU countries, Poland and Romania in particular, because of differing rail gauges, which requires reloading of goods on different wagons.
Ukraine is the world’s second-biggest grains shipper and Russia often tops the ranking for wheat exports. Together they also account for about 80% of sunflower oil trade.