The volume of rail freight transport in 1H2026 fell by 6.2% y/y

In 1H2026, Ukrainian Railways (UZ) reduced its freight volumes by 6.2% year-on-year, or by 4.9 million tonnes, to 74.7 million tonnes. This was announced by Volodymyr Ivashchenko, a member of the board of JSC Ukrainian Railways responsible for freight transport, during a meeting with representatives of iron and steel companies.

The main factor behind the decline was a reduction in the following types of freight:

• iron and manganese ore — by 26.8% year-on-year, or 6.1 million tonnes, to 16.7 million tonnes;
• coal — down 15.6% year-on-year, or 1.5 million tonnes, to 8.1 million tonnes;
• construction materials — down 9% year-on-year, or 1.3 million tonnes, to 13.1 million tonnes;
• cement — by 15.8% year-on-year, or 0.3 million tonnes, to 1.9 million tonnes.

At the same time, the following cargoes showed growth:

• grain — up 18.4% year-on-year, or 2.7 million tonnes, to 17.4 million tonnes;
• crude oil and petroleum products — up 67% year-on-year, or 1.4 million tonnes, to 3.5 million tonnes;
• mineral fertilisers – by 18.1% year-on-year, or 0.2 million tonnes, to 1.3 million tonnes.

The total volume of rail freight exports in the first half of the year fell by 9.6% year-on-year to 35 million tonnes. The decline was seen in the following types of cargo:

1. Iron and manganese ore — down by 5.3 million tonnes, or 31% year-on-year. This was due to a fall in global ore prices, weaker demand in key markets, domestic production issues (including non-refunded VAT), logistical problems, energy shortages and other factors.
2. Ferrous metals — down by 30,000 tonnes, or 1.2% year-on-year. The factors behind the decline in transport volumes were weak external demand and restrictions on production capacity due to military operations.
3. Cement — down by 0.4 million tonnes, or 45% year-on-year. Export freight volumes fell due to difficulties in accessing the EU market caused by the requirements of the CBAM mechanism and a decline in the competitiveness of Ukrainian producers.

The largest increase in export freight volumes for January–June was recorded for grain shipments — up by 1.6 million tonnes, or 19.5% year-on-year. The growth was driven by an increase in the transport of accumulated grain stocks (primarily maize), a surge in exports in March–June, and a catch-up in volumes following a slow start to the year due to weather conditions and attacks on port infrastructure.

By transport mode, exports accounted for the largest share of Ukrzaliznytsia’s rail freight transport in the first six months of 2026, reaching 35 million tonnes (or 47% of the total volume). Domestic transport came second with 32.4 million tonnes, accounting for 43%. Imports accounted for 7.1 million tonnes (10%), whilst transit accounted for the smallest volume — 0.2 million tonnes, which represents approximately 0%.

There was a decline across all transport routes in the first half of the year:

• ports of Greater Odesa — down 8.7% year-on-year, to 22.6 million tonnes;
• western border crossings — down 9.7% year-on-year, to 11.6 million tonnes;
• ports on the Danube – by 28.2% year-on-year, to 0.8 million tonnes.

It should be noted that, according to last year’s figures, Ukrzaliznytsia’s export shipments of iron and manganese ore fell by 5.5% year-on-year – to 31.2 million tonnes, whilst shipments of ferrous metals rose by 13% year-on-year to 5.8 million tonnes.