POSCO International continues grain shipments from Ukraine, despite war

POSCO International's Mykolaiv Grain Terminal in Ukraine / Courtesy of POSCO International

By Kim Hyun-bin

POSCO International's grain terminal continues to successfully operate despite the ongoing war in Ukraine. The food sector is one of the seven strategic businesses of POSCO Group along with secondary battery materials, energy and lithium, according to the company, Tuesday.

POSCO International announced that it will complete the shipment of a total of 16,000 tons of inventory remaining at the grain terminal by next month.

The volume of goods handled by Ukraine Terminal Corp. last year was 310,000 tons, down by more than half from 760,000 tons in 2021. Terminal operations were suspended temporarily due to port blockades immediately after the start of the war, but have continued exporting corn, rye and barley to Europe and Africa over land since last May.

Fighting continues in southeastern Ukraine, including in the port city of Kherson near the terminal, but the grain terminal located in Mykolaiv has not been affected so far. Foreign employees are working remotely in Poland, and the terminal is operated by 30 to 40 local personnel.

“The farmers who returned from evacuation continue to sow and harvest grain despite the war,” said Pavel Linnik, head of the operations department in charge of the field at the Mykolaiv Grain Terminal. “We are grateful to the company, which continues to operate the terminal amid the war.”

POSCO International continues to operate the terminal even during wartime to respond to shipment demand from customers, as well as hire Ukrainian employees whose daily lives have been disrupted by the war.

POSCO International has exported about 2.5 million tons of grain to Asia, the Middle East and Africa from 2019 when it started operating the grain terminal up until the war.

POSCO International decided to strengthen exchanges and cooperation by selecting promising local agricultural companies in order to expedite the expansion of the value chain amid the war, while preparing for normalization through emergency terminal operations.

The company plans to seek additional investments in inland storage facilities to advance into the grain processing industry, where demand is increasing, and to expand grain imports to Korea.

POSCO International plans to actively participate in national reconstruction projects in addition to the agricultural sector by taking advantage of being the only asset investment company in Ukraine. POSCO Group has various affiliates, such as steel, energy, construction and IT, which are all necessary for reconstruction, and plans to play a key role in the country's reconstruction efforts.