Russia stops grain exports to Iran – Reuters
Moscow has stopped exporting grain to Iran amid the war in the country, although Tehran – the third-largest buyer of Russian grain – has already purchased and received about 95% of the season's expected Russian wheat deliveries.
Source: The Times of Israel, citing Reuters
Details: Two sources in Russian export companies said grain shipments to Iran from the Black Sea and Caspian Sea have been suspended, although exporters are still trying to fulfil existing contracts.
Quote from one of the sources: "There is a need for supplies, but for now they have been suspended. I think they will be resumed at the first opportunity for both feed and food product categories. Iran has had a poor harvest this year and difficult, dry weather."
Details: Buyers in the Middle East, such as Israel, Egypt, Türkiye, Saudi Arabia and Iran, are key markets for Russian grain, although Moscow is seeking to diversify supplies to Asia, Africa and Latin America.
Sources say exports to other buyers are continuing without disruption, but recent attacks have pushed up freight rates and insurance premiums and caused payment difficulties involving banks in the Persian Gulf.
Analysts at the grain rail operator Rusagrotrans report that Iran imported nearly 6 million tonnes of grain from Russia between July and February, up from 3 million tonnes during the same period last year.
Background:
- Alexei Likhachov, CEO of Rosatom, the Russian state-owned nuclear energy corporation, has reported that construction at the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant in Iran has been fully suspended due to the fighting in the Middle East.
- Iraq has begun cutting oil production at its largest fields as storage facilities near capacity and is ready to cut output by around 3 million barrels per day if the crisis in the Strait of Hormuz persists.
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