Reduction in Domestic Rail Transport of Wheat in August: How Logistics Changed at the Start of the Marketing Year

 

August 2024 demonstrated a significant decline in the volume of domestic rail transport of wheat compared to the same month last year. This change is particularly notable given that the new marketing year began on July 1, while the mass harvest campaign only started in the third decade of August. This distribution of events highlights a new logistics planning strategy, where significant volumes of the harvest were transported to the market even before the start of mass harvesting, helping to avoid peak loads at the end of the month.

The total volume of wheat transported in August 2024 amounted to 73,688 tons—20,340 tons or 21.6% less than in August 2023, when 94,028 tons were transported. This reduction in August transportation may reflect a new strategy: meeting demand at the early stages of the marketing year (even before the mass harvest), which allowed the harvest to be distributed in advance, storage capacities to be freed up, and preparations made for receiving new grain volumes as the main harvest campaign began.

July 2024 was particularly active in terms of transportation, showing a significant increase in transport volumes. The volume of rail transport of wheat in July was 119,998 tons, 45,788 tons or 61.7% more than in July 2023 (74,210 tons). This sharp increase may be related to the attempt to free up storage and elevator space in advance, as well as to meet early demand by distributing products before the start of mass harvest work in late August. Such a logistics strategy helped optimize the flow of transport and reduce the load on the transport system at the beginning of the main campaign.

In the first decade of August, the transportation volume amounted to 26,451 tons, which was only 1,784 tons less than the level of the first decade of August 2023 (28,235 tons). This small decline may indicate continued demand at the start of the month. In the second decade, a more noticeable decline occurred: transportation volumes fell from 32,992 tons in 2023 to 20,426 tons in 2024—a reduction of 12,566 tons or 38.1%. This decline may be explained by the completion of early harvest transportation before the start of mass harvest operations, as well as the fact that a significant portion of market demand had already been met in July.

In the third decade of August, against the backdrop of the start of the mass harvest campaign, transportation volumes amounted to 26,811 tons, 5,990 tons or 18.2% lower than the same period last year (32,801 tons). This decline, despite the start of the mass harvest, may be related to the fact that most of the available harvest for sale had already been transported by the beginning of the harvest campaign. It should also be noted that, due to floods, the sowing campaign in some regions was delayed, which in turn shifted the start of harvesting. This affected the expectations of domestic buyers, as the main harvest volume became available later than usual, impacting overall transportation volumes and the dynamics of both domestic and export shipments.