Syria has imposed a ban on imports from Russia. Ukraine may become the main seller of grain

Syria announced a ban on imports from Russia, Iran and Israel. It is reported that products from these countries will be subject to confiscation. It is also noted that after the fall of the former regime, imports in the country began to grow actively. Russian media said that grain exporters stopped supplies to Syria back in December 2024. The reason was given as uncertainty in relations with the new authorities.

How will the measure imposed on Russia affect Kazakhstan?

As the head of the analytical department of the Grain Union of Kazakhstan Yevgeny Karabanov told, this fact will not significantly affect grain exporters in Russia and, especially, in Kazakhstan.

“Wheat exports from Russia to Syria hardly exceed 1.5 million tons a year, which is about 3% of the total annual volume of wheat exports from Russia. Grain from the annexed regions of Ukraine – Crimea, Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhya, and Kherson oblasts – was mainly sent to Syria, as other buying countries did not purchase grain from these regions directly due to international sanctions. A lot of agricultural products from these regions were exported to neighboring regions of Russia, from where they were further sold for export without any problems,” Karabanov said.

According to him, in the second half of the current marketing year, the export potential of Russian wheat is significantly lower than in the first half and last marketing year. The Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation approved the tariff export quota from February 15 to June 30, 2025 for wheat 10.6 million tons, barley and corn – 0.

This volume of wheat can be sold to other buyers without any problems, says Evgeny Karabanov.

In turn, Syria can buy the necessary volumes of wheat from the world market, primarily from Ukraine. The U.S. Finance Ministry has significantly eased financial sanctions and allowed settlements in dollars for Syria.

“Therefore, this fact will not affect wheat exporters from rf, and especially from Kazakhstan,” the expert concluded.

Tags: Ukraine, Russia, wheat, Syria