Buyers are sending grain and oil from further afield after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine disrupted traditional trade routes.
Grain shipments traveled longer distances in 2023 than any other year on record as importers switched to buying from other countries after Ukraine’s exports were blocked, according to a review of shipping by the Conference of the United Nations on Trade and Development, or UNCTAD. Oil cargoes have also traveled further since at least 1999 as Russia sought new export markets.
“We have longer distances being traveled mainly because of the disruption in the Black Sea and because of the war in Ukraine,” Rebeca Grynspan, UNCTAD’s secretary-general, told a briefing in London. “It will be very important to try to mitigate the risk factors that we are having because of the geopolitical issues.”
Russia is the world’s leading shipper of wheat and a major oil supplier, while Ukraine is also a prominent food exporter. The Kremlin’s de facto blockade of Ukraine’s Black Sea ports and attacks on its river ports have disrupted shipments of grain and agricultural products. Meanwhile, Moscow is having to redirect its oil exports as European buyers shun supplies. Russia has come to depend mainly on China and India for continued purchases.
“Although grain shipments from Ukraine resumed in 2022 thanks to the Black Sea Initiative, several grain-importing countries had to rely on alternative grain exporters. Instead, they are buying from the U.S. America or Brazil, which requires longer journeys,” according to the report.
