The Nibulon company has lost USD 416 million and 20,000 hectares of agricultural land, which is currently occupied or has become unusable, because of the war.
Nibulon’s head Andrii Vadaturskyi stated this, the CFTS portal reports, citing the European Pravda publication.
"We have performed a rough calculation and plan to record our losses so that they can be compensated in the future. We have lost control over real estate and movable property and real estate worth more than USD 90 million. In addition, we have lost about 146,000 tons of grain worth about USD 40 million," he said.
According to Vadaturskyi, 20,000 hectares of land are occupied or have become unusable because of the conflict.
"Our main achievement in recent years was the restoration of rivers and the resumption of navigation on River Dnipro. We built grain elevators, a river fleet, and an entire system. Now, the Dnipro and Mykolaiv are not in use. Before the war, 35% of grain exports from Ukraine passed through Mykolaiv ports," he said.
He added that logistics is now one of the biggest components of prices and that it was Nibulon’s projects that created the conditions for the partial switch of grain transportation to elevators from highways to rivers in the past 15 years. According to him, the loads on roads and railways have now increased, as have prices.
"Ukraine was famous for competitive logistics; access to ports, the Black Sea, and rivers. This is not Brazil, where you have to transport products over 1,000 kilometers by road. This is where our biggest losses are: we have lost this advantage," Vadaturskyi said.
According to him, the estimated cost of logistics is USD 100-150 per ton. "This accounts for 30-50% of the price of grain. Producers and farmers are forced to pay and share the costs with buyers because of these inefficient logistics. Previously, delivery from an elevator to a ship cost about USD 4 while delivery from a railway elevator costs up to USD 15," he said.
According to him, the company also lost control of some grain elevators.
"Our investments in the relevant capacities and logistics over the years amount to about USD 2 billion. None of it is in use now. We have insufficient port capacity. I really hope that Mykolaiv will be included in the grain agreement. The ideal solution would be to return to normal trade without blockades," he said.
