During the first half of this year, freight carriage was down 16% over the same January-June period of last year, reports the State Statistics Service.
During the first half of this year, freight carriage was down 16% over the same January-June period of last year, reports the State Statistics Service. The fall to 275 million tons breaks down as follows:
Trains down 10%
Trucks down 24%
River down 12%
Air down 6%
Pipeline down 22%
At the seaports, port operators increased tonnage by 10%, to 79 million tons. Exports were up 9%, import were up 13%, and transit was up 13%.
Of the ports, Odesa Region’s Pivdenniy increased its lead as the nation’s busiest sea port, handling almost 40% of Ukraine’s seaborne trade during the first half of this year. Pivdenniy’s increased its cargo handing by one third yoy, to 31 million tons. Number two Mykolaiv fell 6% to 14.4 million tons. Falling slightly were Odesa – 12 million tons – and Chornomorsk – 11.9 million tons. The two Azov ports saw healthy growth. Mariupol was up 27%, to 3.2 million tons. Berdyansk was up 64%, to almost 1 million tons.
Ukraine’s exports of grains, legumes and flour increased by 13.5% in the recently completed marketing year, compared to the same July-June period last year. The exports of 57.2 million tons are a record, according to the Institute of Agrarian Economics. The big three crops were: corn -- 30.3 million tons; wheat -- 20.5 million tons; and barley -- 5.1 million tons.
During the first half of this year, Asian countries increased their purchases of food from Ukraine by 14.5%, to almost $5 billion.This is almost half of Ukraine’s food exports, calculates the Institute of Agrarian Economics. In the first half of 2020, the top three buyers were: China -- $ 1.4 billion; Egypt -- $789 million; and India -- $743 million.
