Agriculture, Baltic Export, Lithuania, Logistics
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Friday, 19.04.2024, 08:27
Lower crops, higher price expectations push Lithuania's grain export down
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Meanwhile, Vytautas Kaunas, head of Klaipeda's handling company Klasco, doubts that ship traffic, stopped for several days in September, could have had impact on the drop in grain export.
"The key factor is that we had a smaller amount of grain. Naturally, such an amount will undoubtedly be felt further down the logistics chain, for example, it has already been felt in terms of prices," Jankauskas told.
In his words, the fact that ship traffic was stopped in Klaipeda several times due to bad weather conditions had impact on the export drop.
"The Port of Klaipeda, the largest export point for grains in Lithuania, is almost full as all elevators, storage facilities and bulk cargo terminals are full and awaiting handling," Jankauskas said.
Meanwhile, Kaunas notes that ship traffic in Klaipeda was stopped for around four days, and doubts that it could have been behind the drop in grain export.
"The terminal has grains, it always does, terminals are never empty. Ship traffic has some impact but the port is not closed for a week. Grain handling can be halted for a day due to rain but I doubt that one can say traffic has major influence on that," Kaunas told.
In his words, Klasco handled 82,000 tons of grains in September, compared to 188,000 tons in September, 2017. And in October the company is set to handle 120,000 tons in October, compared to 55,000 tons a year ago.
Figures from the Klaipeda port authority show the port handled 172,200 tons of grains in September, down 39% y-o-y and 1.279 mln tons in nine months, which was down 25% from the same period last year.
Jankauskas says the drop in grain export might have been due to the fact that grain producers are storing part of grains since grain purchase prices are often the lowest in September-October, so they might be waiting for better prices.
Lithuania exported 141,000 tons of grains in September, down 70% from the same month last year, figures from the Agrorinka agricultural publication show.
Lithuania's Institute of Agrarian Economics estimates grain crops to be 25% lower than last year, standing at 4.345 mln tons.
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