Terminal Continuing Overseas Food Business
POSCO International’s grain terminal in Ukraine is continuing its overseas food business through a partial operation without suffering damage.
The volume of grain handled by the grain terminal in 2022 stood at 310,000 tons, down by more than half from 760,000 tons in 2021. The operation of the terminal was temporarily suspended due to port blockades immediately after the breakout of the war. But at the request of customers concerned about a supply chain collapse, the grain terminal has been exporting corn, rye, and barley to Europe and Africa through overland transportation since May 2022. Currently, a total of 16,000 tons of grain remaining at the terminal will be shipped by March.
Fighting continues in southeastern Ukraine, including Kherson near the grain terminal, but the grain terminal located in Mykolaiv has not been damaged so far. According to the guidelines of the Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Korean employees of POSCO International are working remotely in Poland. The terminal is run by 30 to 40 local employees. All the employees put their safety first, ship grain only during the daytime, and take a shelter in the terminal during an air raid warning.
POSCO International decided to strengthen exchanges and cooperation by selecting promising local farming companies in Ukraine in order to expedite the expansion of value chains after the war while preparing for normalization through emergency terminal operation for the time being. In addition, it plans to seek to make additional investment in inland storage facilities to advance into the grain processing business where demand is on the rise and to expand grain imports to Korea.