Black Sea share of Russian grain exports plunges to 5.5%

In October 2026, the share of Azov-Black Sea ports in Russia’s total seaborne grain exports fell to 5.5%, compared with 71.6% a year earlier. According to the Russian Grain Union, shipments through these ports plunged from 5.38 mln tons in October 2025 to just 130.5 thsd tons. In particular, grain exports through Novorossiysk dropped to only 82.6 thsd tons from 2.66 mln tons a year earlier, while shipments via Tuapse declined 4.5-fold to 47.8 thsd tons.

Overall, Russia exported around 2.3 mln tons of grain through its ports in October, three times less than in the same month last year. Wheat shipments fell 3.1-fold to 2 mln tons, while barley exports declined 3.4-fold to 161.4 thsd tons. Meanwhile, corn exports remained at last year’s level of 243.6 thsd tons. The number of ports handling grain and pulses exports decreased from 43 to 21.

Amid the sharp decline in Black Sea shipments, the main export flows shifted to Baltic Sea ports. In October, grain shipments through these ports reached 1.56 mln tons, up 8.7-fold year-on-year. The share of Baltic ports increased from 2.4% to 65.3%. The largest volumes were handled by Ust-Luga at 684 thsd tons, St. Petersburg at 471 thsd tons, and Vysotsk at 368 thsd tons. Meanwhile, 396 thsd tons of grain were shipped through Astrakhan, mainly to Iran.

Changes in port logistics were accompanied by a decline in shipments to key export markets. Egypt remained the largest buyer of Russian wheat, although exports to the country fell fourfold to 380.8 thsd tons. Shipments to Iran declined 2.2-fold to 182 thsd tons, Bangladesh saw a sixfold drop to 112.6 thsd tons, while exports to Turkey plunged 15.5-fold to 73.5 thsd tons. At the same time, shipments to Kenya increased by 15% to 153 thsd tons, while exports to Algeria rose by 23% to 149 thsd tons.

The shift of grain exports toward the Baltic Sea is intensifying competition between Russian and European wheat. In late October, Russian Class 4 wheat at the port of Vysotsk was priced at $268/t, just $3/t below French wheat. Meanwhile, US wheat prices fell by $25/t over the month to $270/t, while European wheat declined by $2/t to $271/t. On Russia’s domestic market, farm-gate wheat prices increased by 4.3% to RUB 9,000/t.

Tags: Russia, export, grain, Black Sea region, wheat, war