Russia Ships First Grain from New Baltic Terminal

Russia has shipped its first grain from a new terminal at the Baltic Sea port of Ust-Luga, the Russian agricultural watchdog told Reuters, as the country seeks to diversify its grain export routes.

The first shipment of 12,000 metric tons of grain was made in June from the Lugaport terminal, owned by the Russian private transport company Novotrans. LSEG data showed the shipment is destined for Cuba.

About 90% of all Russian grain exports go through the Black Sea terminals. Russia, the world's leading wheat exporter, has been seeking to increase shipments via other routes.

Most exports from the Baltic Sea, which compared with the Black Sea is more easily accessible from central Russia, are via the Vysotsk terminal, which has an annual capacity of 4 million tons. Vysotsk shipped its first grain in April 2023.

In the first half of 2024, 669,000 tons of grain were shipped for export from Baltic ports, of which 296,000 tons were wheat, according to data from the Grain Quality Assessment Centre, which issues phytosanitary certificates for shipments.

The Russian Ministry of Agriculture has forecast that in the 2024/25 season, grain exports from Russia will reach about 60 million tons.

Novotrans has described Lugaport as its flagship large-scale investment project with annual grain terminal capacity of 7 million tons.

It did not respond to a Reuters request for comment on the shipment.

(Reuters - Reporting by Olga Popova and Gleb Stolyarov, writing by Gleb Bryanski; editing by Barbara Lewis)