Ukraine manufactured 6,000 freight cars in H1 2019

The increase in production of freight cars and platforms was 10.2%

According to the State Statistics Service, in H1, production of freight cars and platforms in Ukraine increased by 10.2% compared to the same period of 2018 and accounted for 6,003 pieces. In June, 1,022 cars and platforms were produced.

Kryukivskyi Railway Car Building Works (KRCBW) is the unconditional leader in the market that produced approximately 3 thousand cars from January to June.  The company has not yet published the exact figures, but it is a fact that in January to May, it produced 2.3 thousand cars. In early 2019, KRCBW intended to keep car production outputs at the 2018 level, i.e. around 3.7 thousand pieces. Later, the company increased its expectations to 5 thousand. That was due to the increase in orders: 500 open wagons for the Belarus Railway and 400 for Belanovo Mining Ferrexpo.

The recent contract with Louis Dreyfus grain trading company will also contribute to the production results in the car building industry. In early July, the EBRD approved the $35 million loan for the purchase of 1,000 hopper cars for grain transportation.

As reported earlier, in 2018, production of freight cars and platforms increased by 63.3% to 11.15 thousand. In 2017, car builders produced 6,831 cars. This is by 2.4 times more than in 2016 when 2,811 cars were produced.