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Restructuring Export Strategies: What Agricultural Producers Are Selling First

28 October 2026, 06:04 475

Agricultural exports through the Greater Odesa ports have been halted, while alternative routes make the logistics cycle longer and significantly more expensive, substantially affecting the economics of exports. As a result, most agricultural companies are restructuring their export strategies.

TAS Agro reports that liquidity in the domestic market has declined significantly, while logistical problems related to export shipments continue to accumulate, including rising costs across all modes of transport.

According to Liubomyr Cheban, Head of Trading Operations at TAS Agro, road transport costs have increased by 50%.

To illustrate logistics costs, he provides the following figures:

  • In October, the transport tariff from Vinnytsia Region to Reni (730 km) is UAH 3,000–3,100 per tonne, including VAT, equivalent to UAH 4.2–4.3 per tonne-kilometre.
  • In July, the tariff for the route from Vinnytsia Region to Chornomorsk (460 km) was UAH 1,450 per tonne, including VAT, equivalent to UAH 3.15 per tonne-kilometre.
Liubomyr Cheban, Head of Trading Operations at TAS Agro

We have chosen to focus on selling value-added products. For example, looking at oilseeds, in early July it was possible to contract sunflower seeds (new harvest) for delivery to a processing plant at UAH 26,000–27,000 per tonne, including VAT. Today, the price has fallen by approximately UAH 9,000 per tonne, including VAT, to UAH 16,000–17,000 per tonne. The situation with rapeseed is similar — the current average price is UAH 21,000 per tonne, including VAT. Meanwhile, the new harvest could previously be contracted at UAH 30,000 per tonne, including VAT.

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IMC has also been forced to change its strategy for selling the agricultural products it grows. Previously, the company followed a sequential approach to selling and shipping crops in the order in which they were harvested and prepared for sale (August–September — wheat, September–November — sunflower seeds, October–May — corn). This year, however, according to IMC CEO Oleksandr Verzhykhovskyi, sales and shipments of all crops are taking place simultaneously, in the volumes previously sold under forward contracts, with changes to sales schedules and, in most cases, delivery locations.

Oleksandr Verzhykhovskyi, CEO of IMC

Compared with last year, grain and oilseed sales figures currently differ very significantly. At this point last year, around 210 thousand tonnes of wheat and corn from the 2025 harvest had been exported, along with approximately 60 thousand tonnes of sunflower seeds for processing. As of today, however, we have sold and shipped only around 20 thousand tonnes of wheat and corn from the 2026 harvest, as well as 17 thousand tonnes of sunflower seeds.

IMC is shipping all three crops it grows — wheat, sunflower seeds and corn — virtually simultaneously. The company has sufficient storage capacity for the harvest. The agricultural holding has always used grain bags and mobile grain storage facilities, and this year the volume stored using these methods will be 100 thousand tonnes higher.

The grain elevators of NIBULON LLC have already received more than 1 million tonnes of grain from the new harvest, and the company’s system still has sufficient available capacity to receive corn.

According to Volodymyr Slavinskyi, Trading Director at NIBULON, the company was prepared to switch to alternative export routes, having invested in establishing a route via the Danube back in 2022. This now allows it to continue purchasing grain from agricultural producers and exporting it.

  • In August, the company shipped almost 150 thousand tonnes through Danube ports.
  • In September, shipments reached 212 thousand tonnes.
  • For October, the company forecasts volumes no lower than these levels. Although the route has a potential capacity of 300 thousand tonnes, it is currently constrained by water levels on the Danube.
Volodymyr Slavinskyi, Trading Director at NIBULON

However, simply having an alternative route does not solve the problem. First, alternative logistics are significantly more expensive. For certain destinations, the difference compared with the route through Greater Odesa reaches approximately $70 per tonne.Second, the alternative route is considerably longer. Before the full-scale war, delivery to the buyer could take up to 7 days and cost around $20 per tonne by rail to the port. Today, delivery to a customer in Europe can take 30–40 days, with costs reaching $80–100 per tonne.In other words, both the duration of the logistics cycle and its cost increase four- to fivefold. As a result, maintaining the same daily flow of goods may require up to 20 times more capital to be tied up in the logistics operation at any given time than before the war.

NIBULON explains that this situation reduces exporters’ ability to purchase grain and pay for it promptly. More expensive logistics lower the purchase price received by farmers, while slower exports extend the time required for funds to return to circulation. Consequently, the effects of this pressure will carry over into the next season and be reflected in sown areas and crop yields.

Liudmyla Lebid, AgroPortal.ua

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