Global wheat shipments through the Suez Canal fell by 40% in 2 weeks

Moscow. January 22. INTERFAX.RU - Changing the routes of movement of an increasing number of ships due to the situation in the Red Sea has led to a drop in wheat supplies through the Suez Canal in the last two weeks by almost 40% in annual terms - to 0.5 million tons. This is stated in the message of the World Trade Organization (WTO). According to the Wheat Dashboard, in December 2023, about 8% of wheat supplies from the European Union, Russia and Ukraine to countries in Asia and East Africa were delivered via routes other than the Suez Canal. By comparison, before December the average was 3%. It is estimated that in the first half of January the share of traffic on alternative routes rose to 42%. Wheat supplies from the EU via routes other than the Suez Canal amounted to 330 thousand tons from early December to mid-January, compared with 50 thousand tons in the same period a year earlier. During the same time, about 190 thousand tons of wheat were redirected via alternative ...