By KYIV. Nov 24 (Interfax-Ukraine) – According to the results of the latest auctions, the average rate for the right to use grain carriers of Ukrzaliznytsia fluctuated within the limits of UAH 5,000 per day, so the starting rate increase to UAH 4,300 per day from UAH 2,200/day is not an actual increase in the cost of a car, but corresponds to the dynamics of changes in its market value in the current conditions, Valeriy Tkachev, the deputy director of the of commercial work department at Ukrzaliznytsia, said.
At the same time, he clarified that the actual (basic) rate of payment for the use of a wagon has been increased to the marginal (maximum) rate, which today is UAH 4,300 per day for a grain carrier.
"The increase in the actual rate to UAH 4,300 per day, which is only the initial rate at auctions, is not an actual increase in the cost of a wagon, but corresponds to the dynamics of changes in the market value of a wagon in the current conditions! What prompted the increase in the cost of a wagon? In my opinion, this is an extension of the "grain corridor" and, accordingly, an increase in demand for grain carriers," Tkachev stressed.
He also clarified that Ukrzaliznytsia puts up for auction the entire fleet of grain carriers, the number of which varies depending on the period of turnover of the rolling stock and the total number of Ukrzaliznytsia working fleet. At the same time, the company owns about 7,000 grain wagons (27-29% of the market), while their private fleet in the country is about 17,000, so Ukrzaliznytsia is not able to increase the supply of wagons at auctions.
"Ukrzaliznytsia has always supported farmers and listened to their problems and comments: the speed of wagons was revised/increased, various types of auctions were held. But everyone needs to understand that the profile ministry (the Agrarian Ministry), and not the state carrier, should be engaged in state support for farmers, and not at the expense of providing cheap wagons, since the cost of a wagon should form the market," he wrote.
Tkachev noted that in order to reduce the cost of general logistics, it is necessary to increase the volume of exports of agricultural products so that the infrastructural ability to export matches the demand from farmers.
In addition, he advised farmers to pay attention to the cost of services of other participants in the export logistics chain: owners of private wagons, freight forwarders, owners of transshipment terminals at the border, foreign carriers, as well as port terminals in Poland and Romania.
