The increase in exports is facilitated by the unblocking of roads, however, transshipment at ports and border crossings continue to be bottlenecks
The Metinvest Group increased its exports of steel products to Poland by 16% in 2023 compared to 2022. The increase in cargo traffic is facilitated by the unblocking of routes, but transshipment at ports and border crossings remain bottlenecks, said Yulia Mezentseva Head of Logistics at Metinvest Polska, in an interview with Puls Biznesu.
«The year 2023 was a little better for us than the previous one. There were no longer so many congestions and queues on the Polish railway network, which contributed to an increase in transport efficiency. We recorded a 16% increase in tonnage compared to last year», he added.
A total of 1.9 million tons of Metinvest products were transported via Polish railways and ports. Of these, around 1.3 million tons were steel products, 378 thousand tons were iron ore and 237 thousand tons were metallurgical coal.
Of the total volume of products delivered from Ukraine to Poland, 939 thousand tons were exported to other countries through Polish ports, including Germany, Italy and Slovakia. At the same time, transshipment in Polish ports is four times slower than in Black Sea terminals, notes Mezentseva.
Despite the improvement of the situation with the export and transit of Ukrainian goods through Poland compared to 2022, transport problems still exist and are directly related to the steel industry.
«The Polish-Ukrainian agreement stipulates that 6 trains per day with steel and iron ore must pass on the broad gauge at the Medyka checkpoint. In fact, only 3-4 are allowed to pass, as Polish border and railway administrations give priority to other transport. Therefore, we often have to wait a long time at the border, which increases our costs. We have to pay CHF 1.9 per commercial wagon for every hour of inactivity”, emphasizes Yulia Mezentseva.
One of the reasons for the long queues at the border could be the recent protests by Polish transporters and farmers.
«The queue on the Ukrainian side sometimes reached 70 kilometers. In the case of delicate goods that needed to be delivered quickly to customers, we sometimes decided to change modes of transport and transfer goods from cars to trains to avoid very long queues,” said the head of logistics at Metinvest Polska.
The company hopes that the suspension of protests will facilitate uninterrupted transport by road and rail and is interested in building long-term business relationships in the Polish market.
«We are talking about challenges, but at the same time we are ready to find solutions together with the Polish side. We want to simplify procedures and transport», summarizes Mezentseva.
In 2024, Metinvest hopes to at least maintain, and perhaps even slightly increase, the supply of certain products to the Polish market. At the same time, local producers fear that Ukrainian steel could flood the Polish market, although for comparison, in 2021, the company sold 1.2 million tons of steel directly to the Polish market, 0.7 million tons a year later, and 0.8 million tons in 2023, so this looks like temporary political speculation against Ukrainian exports.
As the GMK Center previously reported, Ukraine and Poland have always had extensive trade ties, particularly in the mining and metallurgical sectors. Before the war, Ukraine had a large share of the Polish steel market, but by the end of 2022, the number had dropped to 12%. Poland's steel consumption has always been about 2.5 times higher than Ukraine's and therefore this market has always been very important and attractive for Ukrainian producers and exporters.
Read more about the Ukrainian-Polish trade in steel and mining products in the Compraço article.
