Ukraine’s Minister of Agriculture along with heads from the
State Property Fund and the First Deputy Prime Minister (who is also the
Minister of Economic Development and Trade) held a workshop on Ukrainian-Chinese investment
projects.
Participants discussed the purchase of much needed
grain cars to aid internal transportation of grain to ports for export.
The meeting reported the positive agreement to allocate funds in 2017 to
purchase 500 grain cars with a further 1,000 in 2018 and 1,500 in 2019.
The head of the Ukrainian Grain Association had previously reported that Ukraine needs a minimum of 5,000 new grain
cars a year and the head of the state railway network operator, Ukrzaliznytsya,
said about two-thirds of their 11,650 grain wagons are already operating way beyond
their intended lifespan.
What wasn't clear from the meeting was if the positive agreement to allocate funds would actually translate into the actual purchase of rolling stock.