Kryukiv Railcar freight car output falls 26% yoy in 3Q14

Обзоры по компаниям и отраслям 10.10.2014 Freight railcar production at Ukraine’s leading railway machinery company, Kryukiv Railcar (KVBZ UK), fell 63% yoy to 1,952 units in 9M14, the company reported via the Interfax-Ukrayina news agency on Oct. 9. In 3Q14 alone, the company produced 1,026 railcars, a 26% yoy decline. The company has produced no passenger railcars year-to-date, while in 9M13 it assembled 62 units. At the same time, the company was involved in the modernization of 90 subway railcars for Kyiv during June-September of 2014. In October, the plant is planning to work 15 days, the report said, compared to 16 days in September and 20 days in August. Alexander Paraschiy: Kryukiv’s 3Q14 data adds some optimism about its ability to recover output from the collapse in the first half, when output plunged 76% yoy. Average monthly production of freight railcars increased to 342 units in 3Q14, compared to 140 units in 1Q14 and 169 in 2Q14. However, its output is far from its potential, which is more than 1,000 freight railcars per month, and the company is very unlikely to find on its traditional markets adequate demand that would enable loading its capacity. The company’s future growth, therefore, depends on the ability of Ukrainian railway operators to order more passenger trains, which Kryukiv is starting to produce, or the ability to refocus on new markets of railway machinery, which is very difficult.