Ukrainian Railways reduced transport of ore for export by 31% y/y in 1H2026

In the first half of 2026, JSC Ukrainian Railways (UZ) reduced its export shipments of iron and manganese ore by 31% year-on-year, or by 5.3 million tonnes. This was discussed during a meeting between representatives of the company, the European Business Association and the American Chamber of Commerce, according to Rail.insider.

In total, during this period, Ukrainian Railways transported 35 million tonnes of cargo for export. The volume of these shipments in January–June fell by 9.6% compared with the same period last year.

Apart from ore, a decline in export volumes was recorded in the following segments:

• cement – down 45% year-on-year, or by 400,000 tonnes;
• ferrous metals – down 1.2%, or by 30,000 tonnes.

At the same time, the volume of grain exports rose by 19.5% year-on-year.

Over the six-month period, 22.6 million tonnes were exported via the ports of Greater Odesa (-8.7% year-on-year). Exports to western border crossings totalled 11.6 million tonnes (-9.7% year-on-year). A further 800,000 tonnes of cargo were exported via the Danube ports (-28.2% year-on-year).

As noted by Valery Tkachov, Deputy Director of the Department of Transport Technology and Commercial Operations at JSC Ukrainian Railways, a total of 74.7 million tonnes of freight was transported by rail in January–June 2026, which is 6.2% less year-on-year.

The main factor behind this decline was a reduction in the volumes of:

• iron and manganese ore (–6.1 million tonnes);
• coal (–1.5 million tonnes);
• construction materials (–1.3 million tonnes).

At the same time, there was an increase in the transport of grain (by 2.7 million tonnes) and crude oil and petroleum products (by 1.4 million tonnes).

It should be noted that the total volume of iron and manganese ore transported in 2025 fell by 45% compared with 2021 – from 77.6 million tonnes to 42.8 million tonnes. Export volumes fell by 30% – to 31.2 million tonnes. At the same time, the total volume of ferrous metal shipments last year fell by 55% compared with pre-war 2021 – from 21.7 million tonnes to 9.7 million tonnes. Export shipments fell by 63% – to 5.8 million tonnes.