Russian agricultural exports shift away from the Black Sea as Rusagro shelves new marine terminal project

Rusagro Group has temporarily suspended its project to build a proprietary marine terminal in the Azov-Black Sea basin. The company attributed the decision to the geopolitical situation and the high cost of financing. At the same time, Rusagro continues to seek third-party terminal capacity to handle around 2 mln tons of edible oils per year.

The decision comes amid a sharp decline in agricultural exports through Russia’s southern ports. In September, grain transshipment through Novorossiysk fell almost 13-fold to 177.8 thsd tons, compared with nearly 2.4 mln tons a year earlier. Tuapse handled 102.7 thsd tons of grain, almost half the volume recorded in September 2025.

Against this backdrop, Russian exporters are increasingly redirecting cargoes to the Baltic. Ust-Luga shipped 530.2 thsd tons of grain in September, compared with no shipments a year earlier, while Vysotsk increased transshipment 9.5-fold to 342 thsd tons. Together, the two ports accounted for about half of Russia’s total grain exports during the month. Shipments through Astrakhan and Makhachkala to Iran and Afghanistan also increased.

Overall, Russia’s exports of major grains fell 3.8-fold in September to 1.7 mln tons. Wheat shipments dropped fourfold to 1.36 mln tons, while the number of destination countries for Russian wheat narrowed from 37 to 12. Exports to Egypt, still the largest market, fell 5.4-fold to 216.6 thsd tons.

During the first three months of the 2026/27 MY, Russia exported only 5.4 mln tons of grain, down from 14.4 mln tons a year earlier. Wheat exports over the same period fell from 12.1 mln to 4.5 mln tons. The sharp decline in shipments through Novorossiysk and Tuapse, the diversion of flows toward the Baltic and Rusagro’s decision to postpone investment in a new terminal point to a major restructuring of Russia’s agricultural export logistics.

Tags: Russia, grain terminal