Russia’s dispute with leading exporter blocks 400,000 metric tons of grain

A dispute with federal authorities is preventing some 400,000 metric tons of grain from being processed and shipped to buyers, the owner of one of Russia’s largest grain exporters TD RIF told Reuters.

On Friday, Rosselkhoznadzor, Russia’s agricultural watchdog, said there had been an increase in complaints from importing countries about the non-compliance of Russian grain quality with quarantine requirements, including supplies from RIF.

Concerns the flow of wheat from Russia, the world’s top exporter, could be disrupted as a result have helped to drive up the benchmark global wheat futures contract Wv1 in Chicago.

Providing the first insight into how much grain might be affected, TD RIF owner Petr Khodykin said at least 15 ships were stuck as a result of the dispute. He said the quality of grain has not deteriorated in any way.

“We are writing letters trying to figure out what’s going on,” he said, adding the ships had been loaded but none had been processed.

RIF loaded 12 million tons of grain for export last year and ranked second in terms of export volumes of Russian grain during the current marketing season, he said.

The company’s management has already appealed to Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Government Viktoria Abramchenko and Head of the Ministry of Agriculture Dmitry Patrushev.

Khodykin said he had also asked the Governor of Rostov Region Vasily Golubev to resolve the issue.

Russia’s agricultural watchdog on Monday proposed the redistribution of quotas among grain exporters in the case of systematic failures on the part of exporters, such as Russia’s RIF trading house.

Rosselkhoznadzor said on Friday that since the beginning of 2024, 44 (or 81%) of grain export consignments of more than 1 million tons had been found at TD RIF to be non-compliant with the requirements of importing countries.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Olga Popova; editing by Barbara Lewis)