Attacks on port infrastructure and vessels are creating additional risks for Ukrainian exports and driving up logistics costs, affecting grain purchase prices and the profitability of agricultural producers, Serhiy Kalkutin, Logistics Director at Nibulon JV LLC, said in a comment to Interfax-Ukraine.
"The increase in freight rates and transportation costs ultimately affects grain procurement prices and, consequently, the profitability of agricultural production. In practice, these additional costs are borne by farmers, since logistics is one of the key components of export costs," he said.
According to Kalkutin, the company has structured its logistics model in a way that minimizes the impact of security risks. Nibulon currently operates a diversified export system with alternative routes, enabling it to quickly redirect cargo flows and maintain uninterrupted deliveries.
"We continue to actively procure grain through our own network of grain elevators and offer agricultural producers flexible cooperation models: selling their products at current market prices or storing grain with the option of selling it later when market conditions become more favorable," Kalkutin said.
He added that such flexibility is one of the company’s key tools for supporting agricultural producers in conditions of high market volatility.
As reported, in July 2024, Nibulon extended a contract with the Romanian company TTS (Transport Trade Services) for the transshipment of Ukrainian grain. At that time, the companies reported that they had been cooperating for two years, and the new agreement was a continuation of a partnership that began in 2022.
Before the war, Nibulon SP LLC cultivated 82,000 hectares of land in 12 regions of Ukraine and exported agricultural products to more than 70 countries. In 2021, the grain trader exported a record 5.64 million tons of agricultural products. After the start of the war, the company was forced to move its central office from Mykolaiv to Kyiv. In addition to 23 elevator complexes, Nibulon has its own road and rail transport capacities, as well as a fleet built at its own shipyard. During the war, this fleet continues to carry out river transport.
The company is also actively developing its own humanitarian demining unit to restore safety on leased lands and assist Ukraine’s agricultural sector. Nibulon is a certified operator of mine action activities.
