Attacks on grain tankers: Tensions in the Black Sea Basin rise

In brief: • Turkey considers a new security corridor • Russia seeks alternatives to secure exports After a difficult start at the beginning of the week, on Tuesday, the grain markets managed to recover from their recent lows, erasing some of the losses recorded previously. According to experts, this movement is a new "calm before the storm" as tensions in the Black Sea are again set to escalate. On Tuesday, Russia officially accused Ukraine of being responsible for the interference with ships and threatened to disrupt maritime traffic. This was enough to prompt financial operators to reduce some of their short positions and to establish a new risk premium in the market. This prompted Turkey to once again talk about organizing a security corridor to allow military ships to escort civilian vessels. The Turkish Ministry reported that the tanker Midvolga 2, traveling from Russia to Georgia, carrying a cargo of sunflower oil, was attacked 80 miles off the coast of Turkey. This is ...