KYIV (Reuters) – Ukraine has imposed temporary restrictions on the supply of grain cargoes by rail in the direction of Moldova and Romania due to a large number of wagons at border crossings, the APK-Infrom consultancy said on Friday.
After its Black Sea ports were blocked by Russia, Ukraine has been forced to use rail as its main route for exporting grain, which often leads to the accumulation of wagons at border crossings.
Earlier, Kyiv suspended grain exports by rail to Poland.
APK-Inform said restrictions in the direction of Romania began on May 4 and from May 5 in the direction of Moldova and Ukraine’s Danube ports.
The agriculture ministry said on Thursday that grain exports had reached 46 million tonnes in the 2021/22 July-June season, including 132,000 tonnes so far in May.
Senior agriculture officials said last month that Ukraine exported up to 300,000 tonnes of grain in March, while analyst APK-Inform said the country exported 923,000 tonnes of grain in April.
Ukraine exported up to 6 million tonnes of grain a month before Russia invaded the country. It exported 38.99 million tonnes at this point in the 2020/21 season.
(Reporting by Pavel Polityuk; editing by Jason Neely)
