by kato
The NYT article fails to mention that grain exports from Ukraine to all neighboring Eastern-European EU members (Poland, Slovakia, Hungaria, Romania, Bulgaria) are currently legally banned. This is since the massively increased Ukrainian exports were ruining the markets and filling up depots there - for example corn exports to these countries rose from a few thousand tons to several million tons annually after the war started. Transits to western European EU countries are still allowed and heavily used. For example shipping of Ukrainian grain on the Danube is at 3 million tons per month now, i.e. the equivalent of 40 freight trains per day.
The EU and Turkey currently account for close to 75% of Ukrainian grain exports combined, compared to 5% in the five years before the war. When considering long-term logistics infrastructure investment (i.e. regauging or building new lines) it should be kept in mind that postwar it is extremely likely that this proportion would swing the other way around again.
The EU and Turkey currently account for close to 75% of Ukrainian grain exports combined, compared to 5% in the five years before the war. When considering long-term logistics infrastructure investment (i.e. regauging or building new lines) it should be kept in mind that postwar it is extremely likely that this proportion would swing the other way around again.