USAID Economic Resilience Activity (ERA) has purchased 300 maxi bags for Agromino, a grain company with a full cycle of production and export of agricultural products.
A maxi bag is a large reusable bag with a volume of 18 cubic meters for transporting or storing grain and other bulk materials. It can hold 14 tons of grain. The bags are manufactured by Ukrainian company Аrivapak.
This technology allows five wagons to be loaded daily, which is approximately 350 tons of grain. All of this affects the cost of production and allows Agromino to increase grain shipments.
The use of maxi bags allows Agromino to transport grain not only by rail, but also by open trailers when grain trailers or specialized containers are not available.
This is the second batch of maxi bags that USAID ERA has delivered to Agromino. The first 250 units were delivered in February 2023. The company uses them to transport grain from its own elevator to customers in the European Union.
“We used to load grain in 800 kg bags. These maxi bags will help us load the wagons faster and send them to our customers in the EU,” says Oleksandr Andreiev, Technical Director of Agromino. “We already have experience of using maxi bags. We have loaded and unloaded them several times, and none of them have broken on the way. We are convinced that these are reliable bags that help us to keep the grain clean and transport it closed.”
Transporting grain in this way helps keep it clean, and the use of large bags helps to load wagons faster. Over the six months of using maxi bags, the company has shipped about 13,000 tons of grain.
Agromino currently cultivates 42,000 hectares of land across Ukraine. In October 2022, the company resumed operations in the liberated territories where its two elevators are located.
This year, the company plans to export about 200,000 tons of grain. In 2022, the company exported approximately 65,000 tons of grain by road and land. This expected increase is due to the fact that this year the company started purchasing grain from farmers, whereas previously it exported grain only from its own production.
USAID ERA is promoting a new technology for transporting grain by maxi bags in Ukraine. These bags have been used for more than 10 years in the European Union and the United States to transport bulk cargo. However, for Ukraine, using them to transport grain is a new technology. The bags are made of polymeric fabric and guarantee the tightness of the cargo (grain) and its protection during transportation.
Maxi bags are already being used by USAID ERA partner companies N`Unit and KRM AGRO.
Assistance to agricultural producers and infrastructure companies is part of USAID Agriculture Resilience Initiative – Ukraine. It aims to help Ukraine increase its capacity to produce, store, transport, and export grain.
For more information about the Ukrainian manufacturer of maxi bags, please follow the link: https://arivapak.com/