Russian grain exporters are finding a conduit through Baltic Sea facilities as the country reroutes shipments amid Ukrainian drone attacks in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, Reuters reported, citing industry traders and observers.
At war since Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, the two countries recently have intensified their attacks on each other’s grain storage and handling infrastructure and grain-carrying vessels in the Black Sea region, severely compromising agricultural exports, particularly wheat.
All three grain terminals in the Port of Novorossiysk, the key export gateway for Russian grain, suspended operations following a series of Ukrainian kamikaze drone attacks during the first weeks of August, according to multiple reports from local traders and analysts.
Russian ports in the Baltic Sea have a total estimated capacity of up to 7 million tonnes of grain a year. Russia has grain terminals at Vysotsk and Ust-Luga ports. Grain also may be shipped via the ports of St. Petersburg and Kaliningrad.
According to an industry source speaking to Reuters, requests for grain shipments by rail to Russia’s Baltic ports for this season hit 5 million tonnes by Aug. 18 — mainly for delivery in August and September — compared with 6 million tonnes for the Black Sea ports of Novorossiysk and Tuapse.
In contrast, Russia exported 46.3 million tonnes of grain via ports in the Azov and the Black Sea in the last exporting season (July 2025 to June 2026), accounting for 90% of total Russian seaborne grain exports, industry data showed. Russian Baltic ports shipped only about 1 million tonnes during that period.
Despite strained relations, Russian grain shipments through its Baltic neighbors, mainly Latvia, have continued, although they fell to about 1 million tonnes in the last season from 2.5 million tonnes two years ago, according to analysts.
Speaking to Reuters, Arkady Zlochevskiy, head of the Russian Grain Union, said Russian exports through the Baltic states could reach between 5 million and 6 million tonnes this season or even 10 million tonnes if Estonian ports become available.
Russia’s current Baltic capacity, however, is not enough to fully replace the Azov and Black Sea ports. Zlochevskiy, said that, at best, all other Russian ports combined as well as land transport could handle only about half of shipments that would normally go through Azov and Black Sea ports.
Russia is the world’s largest wheat exporter, with Egypt, Turkey and Saudi Arabia, among its chief destinations, and a significant barley and sunflower oil supplier. Ukraine also is a vital global corn, wheat and barley exporter and the top shipper of sunflower oil.
Turkey and other regional players are calling for a new maritime ceasefire, but the prospects for reviving the kind of arrangement that once kept commercial shipping moving through the Black Sea appear uncertain.