Ukraine exported 7.5 million tons of grain through its own sea corridor and Romania’s Constanta in December – US Department

Romania remains Ukraine’s largest alternative export route for grain and other goods in addition to Kyiv’s own Black Sea corridor.

Jim O’Brien, Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Department of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, told Reuters.

According to him, in 2023, Ukraine exported 14 million tons of grain through the port of Constanta, which accounted for almost 40% of the total grain supply in the port for the year. In December last year, about 7.5 mln tons of grain were exported through the Romanian port and its own sea corridor.

“I see that there will be a certain balance in the future. To recover, Ukraine needs to export. I think that maintaining the current level of exports – about seven million tons of grain and about a million tons of other goods per month – means more than $25 billion of GDP per year for the Ukrainian economy. This is 5-6 billion in tax revenues,” O’Brien said.

Earlier, Dmytro Pletenchuk, a spokesman for the Ukrainian Navy, said that the grain corridor had reached its pre-war capacity. According to him, 500 ships have already sailed through the corridor and exported more than 10 million tons of cargo.

Tags: Ukraine, export, grain, Constanta