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Association: Rail tariff increases will cause new losses to Ukrainian farmers

Ukrainian Farm Business Association UCAB warned that plans by Ukraine's State Railways Ukrzaliznytsia, to increase freight rates will hurt struggling farmers. This could lead to a drop in production and exports.

Ukrzaliznytsia, according to the association, plans to increase the tariff on empty wagons transported by farmers by 67%.

The UCAB released a statement on Monday evening that said: "This could lead to a rise in the price of grain transport by 50-60 hryvnias per ton, and an increase in the farmers' expenses in the war period by approximately 2 billion UAH ($50 million per season)."

Ukrzaliznytsia said that it intends to unify Ukrainian transportation tariffs, and could increase them by around 7 percent. It has not confirmed the figure given by UCAB.

The traders' union criticised plans to increase tariffs earlier this month. They said that it would only worsen conditions for farmers who are suffering due to the falling prices of global food.

The Ukrainian harvests will likely decrease in 2024 as a result of a smaller planting area due to the full-scale Russian invasion 2022 and bad weather. ($1 = 41,3105 hryvnias). (Reporting and Editing by Ros Russel)

(source: Reuters)