Russia opens new ports in the Baltic Sea for grain exports to reduce dependence on traditional Black Sea routes

Russia, the world’s leading wheat exporter, is expanding its Baltic Sea ports as it aims to boost agricultural exports by 50% by 2030 while reducing dependence on traditional Black Sea routes, officials and executives said. The country, which exported at least 72 million metric tons of grain in the 2023/24 season, is looking at new markets in Latin America and Africa to diversify from its traditional grain markets in North Africa and the Middle East. It has relied on its Black Sea ports to handle booming agricultural exports for the past decades but the conflict with Ukraine has made the area risky for shipping with both sides regularly striking each other’s facilities and infrastructure. “Last year with its record harvest showed that with the pace of loadings for exports, we do not have enough capacity,” Ksenia Bolomatova, deputy head of state-controlled agricultural conglomerate OZK, which owns several Black Sea terminals, told an industry gathering in Sochi in southern Russia. ...