Deficit of grain carriers grows in Siberia

- A serious shortage of grain carriers in the direction of Manchuria has formed in the region. They are not there, and the harvest of 2020 must be exported. The demand for Siberian grains and oilseeds in the PRC and other Asian countries is constantly growing. Compared to the spring of 2020, the price jumped by 50%, - one of the participants of the Siberian grain market told Infopro54.

Director General of Novosibirsk Food Corporation LLC Alexander Teplyakov confirmed that the problem with a shortage of grain carriers in the region does exist. According to him, in November alone, the deficit on applications is about 1000 grain carriers.

- Now there is a heavy workload in southern ports, where exporters are faced with long delays. The excitement is quite understandable - everyone wants to export as much grain as possible in anticipation of the restrictions that are planned to be introduced from February 15, 2021, - explains Teplyakov. - There are many applications. This is due to the economic situation, the growth of the dollar, as well as world prices - there have not been such for a long time. If we take the beginning of the season - August 2020 - the price of wheat has already increased by 35-40%. It is now profitable for farmers to export their products, and they feel very good. But our export opportunities are seriously constrained by the wagon fleet.

In the east, the export flow from Siberia in the fall of 2020 increased by about 30% compared to the same period in 2019. We are talking about Mongolia, as well as Asian countries, China, Pakistan, India.

- This year we are working on logistics in new directions - the Philippines and Indonesia. Everyone is in demand, says Alexander Teplyakov.

Sergei Maksimov, President of the Union of Transport Workers, Freight Forwarders and Logisticians of Siberia (STELS), agrees that grain transportation in the district has really grown. According to his estimates, by about 30% over the same period last year. He notes that a shortage of grain carriers in the district arises periodically, since they are actively exploited in the western part of Russia, where the mileage is much shorter than in the regions of the Siberian Federal District.

- Grain carriers are a specific rolling stock, which is in demand only in the autumn and winter seasons, so carriers are not very actively investing in its purchase. As a rule, they are looking for an alternative in the form of containers, gondola cars, where liner bags are inserted, flax tanks, - says Maksimov. - Since we face this problem on a regular basis, some companies of our union use new technologies for transporting grain, including containers, open wagons. But there are nuances here. For example, Chinese counterparties require that the products they buy should be packed only in their certified liner bags. Also, special conditions are required for receiving gondola cars.