Some of Russia's leading grain exporters are losing market share as foreign buyers, insurers and shippers shun government-backed, sanctioned companies. This gives foreign traders such as Louis Dreyfus Co (Netherlands) a chance to get more deals, writes Bloomberg.
In particular, buyers avoid doing business with Russian companies associated with organizations under anti-Russian sanctions.
Demetra Trading (partly owned by the sanctioned VTB) and JSC United Grain Company (OZK) last year at this time were among the top five shippers. However, both companies dropped out of the top 10 in the first two months of this season. The agency's calculations are based on data on ships from the analytical platform Logistic OS. Based on these data, one can judge how the sanctions due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine affect the raw materials industry, although they did not concern trade in food and fertilizers, but implied logistical and financial restrictions, the authors note.
The agency believes this could benefit international companies, which have faced increased competition from Russian firms in recent years, as Moscow seeks to expand its influence in the sector. For example, since the start of the season, Louis Dreyfus has moved up to fourth place from ninth in terms of exports.
In early August, the buyer refused Ukrainian corn, which is being transported by the dry cargo ship Razoni, which left Odessa, citing a more than five-month delay in delivery. The shipper, whose ship reached the Lebanese port of Tripoli, was looking for another buyer in Lebanon or in another country.
An agreement on the export of grain from Ukrainian ports was signed by Moscow and Kiev on July 22 in Istanbul with the participation of the UN. Grain will be delivered from three ports – Odessa, Chernomorsk and Yuzhny. The day after the signing of the treaty, Odessa was subjected to rocket fire, as a result of which a fire broke out in the local port.
According to the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, since the beginning of the war, Russia has stolen and exported hundreds of thousands of tons of Ukrainian grain, part of the stolen grain is bought by Turkey. Also, a significant part of the stolen grain was transported across the Mediterranean on dry cargo ships under Russian flags to Syria, from where the grain can be smuggled to the countries of the Middle East.