Ukrainian Railways Predicts Imminent Freight Tariff Rise
KYIV (Reuters) - Ukraine's state rail company expects the government to increase freight transport tariffs soon, despite opposition from farmers and steelmakers, a senior company official said on Thursday.
Ukrzaliznytsia said last year it wanted to raise freight tariffs by 37% to meet significant price rises for fuel, electricity and equipment repairs as it tries to cope with the effects of Russian attacks.
However, agricultural producers said the move would raise their transport costs by $3 to $6 per metric ton and could lead to the bankruptcy of some farmers.
A tariff increase has still not been approved by the government, specialist media outlet Rail.insider quoted Valeriy Tkachev, deputy head of the commercial department at Ukrzaliznytsia, as saying.
"I think there will be indexation anyway. But the size of the indexation will be decided by Ukrzaliznytsia's regulator, the Ministry of Development," Tkachev said.
He said the tariff could be increased by 20% to 40%.
Tkachev also said the increase would raise logistics costs by no more than $4 per ton and "would not have a critical impact on the agricultural sector".
Ukraine is a major global producer and exporter of metals and agricultural products, which are transported by rail to seaports for export.
(Reporting by Pavel Polityuk; Editing by Mark Potter)
