KIEV (Reuters) — Commodity trader Glencore is trying to sell some of its inland grain silos in strife-torn Ukraine, due to a change in grains storage and transport trends which is making them redundant, sources close to the situation said on Tuesday.
Inland silos are being used less as more farmers in Ukraine are building their own on-farm storage units and transporting directly to ports, by-passing third-party inland storage, the sources said.
They put the number of Glencore silos up for sale at between two and 15 out of 25 that the company owns in Ukraine.
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“It’s down to the fact that these (silos) are poorly located,” one of the sources said. “It’s more economical to transport directly to ports by trucks, bypassing inland silos.”
A spokesman for Glencore declined to comment.
Finding a buyer may prove difficult, however, as for months Ukrainian troops have fought pro-Russian rebels in the east of the country.
Glencore exported 824,000 tonnes of Ukrainian grain in the first 11 months of the 2013-14 season, or 2.6 percent of the country’s total grain exports, according to Kiev-based consultancy ProAgro, with maize dominating the shipments.
