World: Grain transit through the Suez Canal fell by half in February; vessels coming from the Black Sea are not changing routes yet

ESSENCE Only grain ships from the Black Sea and for Iran still cross the Red Sea. The reason is the continuous attacks from the Houthis. Reuters writes about this with reference to analysts. According to Ishan Bhanu, lead agricultural commodities analyst at Kpler, almost all grain ships from the Americas and Western Europe have changed their route to a longer, more expensive route around South Africa. In February 2024, the volume of grain transit through the Suez Canal decreased to 2.6 million tons (from 5.3 million tons in February 2023), the expert estimates. “Many shipowners are still willing to accept the danger to their ships, and ships may be booked for passage through the Red Sea,” one grain trader told Reuters. It is expected that purchases of Ukrainian corn from China will be carried out in transit through the Red Sea. CONTEXT Shelling of international commercial ships in the Red Sea has become a regular occurrence since November 2023. The Houthis (a militant group based ...