The Ukrainian Railways joint-stock company (Ukrzaliznytsia) will report a negative financial result for July, the first since the beginning of this year, despite an improvement in operational efficiency compared to last year.
Ukrzaliznytsia announced this in a statement, the CFTS portal reports.
"Savings in other operating expenses offset a 40% increase in energy costs, but an increase in exchange-rate costs and a deterioration in the structure of cargo transportation led to a negative financial result," the company said.
The company added that the volume of transportation of unprofitable cargoes (revenues from which do not cover the cost of their transportation) increased: in July 2024 it transported 3.6 million tons of iron and manganese ore, 65% more than in July 2023. At the same time, the volume of transportation of grain, which is one of the main cargoes and is a highly profitable cargo, decreased by 19% in July compared to the previous month.
In total, in July 2024 Ukrzaliznytsia transported 13.6 million tons of cargo, which is 12% more than in the same period last year. This included 6.4 million tons of domestic grain (22% less than in July 2023); 6.4 million tons of export grain (93% more than in July 2023); 746,000 tons of imported grain (39% more than in July 2023).
In addition, in the first seven months of this year, Ukrzaliznytsia reduced fixed costs, excluding electricity prices and labor costs, which are rising but remain below the national average.
"Ukrzaliznytsia is calling for bringing the cost of transporting goods of different tariff classes closer together. There is no economic justification for the existence of a large difference in the cost of transporting goods of different tariff classes, as the infrastructure component (infrastructure maintenance costs) is the same for all goods," the company said.
