Transport Minister Oleg Butkovic said on Wednesday it was being considered how to increase Ukrainian grain export via Croatia, in which the capacity of the Vukovar river port is a limiting factor.

After Russia pulled out of an agreement on Ukrainian grain export from Black Sea ports a month ago, Croatia and Ukraine reached an agreement on exporting via Croatian ports. Under the agreement, Ukrainian grain arrives via Danube to Vukovar and is then transported to Croatia’s seaports for further export.

“Since contracts already exist and our ports’ capacities have been leased, we are looking into the possibility of increasing the existing grain export from Ukraine,” Butkovic said on Goli Otok island. “A part of the Ukrainian grain is already being exported via our ports, mostly via the Rijeka port.”

He said there were “several limiting factors”, including free capacity in the Vukovar port and works on the Mediterranean railway corridor’s Croatian section.

Next Monday, Butkovic will meet with Ukraine’s infrastructure minister.  “We’ll see what the capacities are by then, he said. “In any case, the interest is to increase the capacity. We can do it, we’ll do everything so that it is so,” he added.