Volga Baikal AGRO News Update on the Russian Railroad Transportation of Grain !!!

This season the rail transportation of grain will hit a record

Volga Baikal AGRO News Update on the Russian Railroad Transportation of Grain !!!

In the outgoing agricultural year, railroad transportation of grain for export in Russia will become record-breaking, Interfax writes with reference to monitoring data of the analytical center Rusagrotrans. The head of the center, Igor Pavensky, told the agency that the traffic volume could reach 19.2 million tons, which will become a historical record and 1.4 times more than last season. The expert clarified that in the past agricultural year, 13.5 million tons of grain were transported by rail.

Transportation will also exceed the figure for 2017/18 agricultural year – 18.6 million tons, when a record grain harvest of 135.5 million tons was harvested

I.Pavensky to told Interfax.

According to him, a share of railway transportation in export directions increased from 33% to 40%, which is the maximum since 2011/12 agricultural year. “The main contribution to this indicator was made by the regions where a record harvest was collected in 2020, and historically high volumes were shipped for export,” – I.Pavensky explained to Interfax, specifying that the Central District increased grain exports by 1.8 times to 8. 5 million tons, Privolzhsky – 2.9 times to 5.2 million tons. Export from the southern and North Caucasian regions due to a decrease in the harvest, in total, fell 1.5 times to 3.5 million tons from 5.3 million tons a year earlier – this is the minimum figure for the last five years. Transportation from Siberia, where the harvest was not much higher than in 2019, slightly exceeded the level of last year and reached 1.5 million tons.

The expert believes that the reason for the growth in railway traffic is the entry into force of a memorandum on the prevention of overloads by road transport from September 15 last year. “Grain has ceased to be transported in large quantities by cars over long distances. Earlier, in the direction of the ports, mainly the Azov and Black Seas, they were transported not only from the southern regions (up to 400 km), but also from the Center at a distance of up to 800 km, and even from the Volga region – up to 1,500 km,” – he said. I.Pavensky to Interfax. The memorandum also influenced the domestic market, so by rail in domestic traffic over short distances (up to 400 km) in the 2020/21 season, 1.2 times more grain was transported than a year ago, the expert noted.

Pavensky added to Agroinvestor: That in the new season it is planned to increase the capacity of transportation by rail to terminals in Novorossiysk. “The volume of route shipments is increasing from year to year, and in the 2020/21 season, the volume of route shipments in wagons managed by Rusagrotranas increased 4.3 times to almost 1.1 million tons,” the expert cited the data. “They can be restrained by the increased volume of general cargo (metals, oil, coal) in the direction of the southern ports, and the increased passenger traffic.”

Eduard Zernin, Chairman of the Board of the Union of Grain Exporters, told to Agroinvestor: That the congestion of the railway in the outgoing season is a direct consequence of the high harvest in the Center of Russia and the Volga region, as well as sagging indicators in the South, whose grain is delivered to ports mainly by road. “In the future, the dependence on the geography of the harvest will remain. Global climatic changes contribute to the shift of the center of agriculture to the east, right up to Siberia, which means that the load on the railway and its role in grain logistics to the ports of the Azov-Black Sea basin will only grow,” – he said.

Pavensky previously told to Agroinvestor: That in the direction of the ports of the Azov-Black Sea basin, where in addition to the railway there is motor transport, impressive results were achieved in the transportation of grain. Thus, the share of railway transport in the direction of Novorossiysk terminals in July-May 2020/21 increased from 48% last season to 64%. The share of transportation by rail to small ports and to the port of Kavkaz is 9.4% against 3.7% earlier. In Taman, the share of the railroad also increased to 11.8% against 2.3% in 2019/20, despite the fact that there is no direct unloading of wagons in the port, and grain from the wagons is loaded into vehicles that are already delivering it. to the terminal.

According to I.Pavensky, in general, the share of the railway in Russian grain exports has grown to the level of 11 years ago – 42% against 32-36% in recent years. First of all, this is due to an increase in infrastructure capabilities, namely, an increase in the capacity for unloading wagons at the terminals of Novorossiysk by almost a quarter. The expansion of the fleet of grain carriages also played a role: in the last four years, their number increased by 10 thousand to 51 thousand units due to large-cube and “heavy” cars (with a load of more than 76 tons).

Source: Agroinvestor.ru

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