Ukrainian Black Sea exports exceed best grain deal results for second month

Ukrainian agriculture exports through Black Sea ports exceeded the best results of the grain deal corridor for the second month in a row, with total exports reaching the pre-war levels, official data showed on Thursday.

Ukrainian exports through the Black Sea ports in January reached 4.29 million mt, which is down 10% from December’s 4.8 million mt, but both totals are higher than the best number achieved during the grain deal corridor back in September 2022, the second month of its implementation – at 4.1 million mt.

Chornomorsk port remained in the lead with 1.9 million mt shipped, followed by Odesa port with 1.3 million mt and Pivdenniy with 1.02 million mt loaded.

Danube port shipments also declined in January, falling by 11% from the previous month but still showed impressive activity – 1.13 million mt, divided between Izmail port (773,237 mt) and Reni (313,340 mt).

Currently, the share of the products shipped from river ports stands at 27% of the total, while the share of shipments through deep sea ports was 44%.

The amount of agriculture products shipped by trains has dropped by 18% to 685,687 mt in January, which is only 16% of total exports.

The total monthly export of grains, oilseeds and vegoils reached 6.36 million mt last month, which is even higher than the results seen back in January 2019 and 2020, when around 6 million mt were exported.

That all comes possible due to the humanitarian corridor which was opened on August 10, 2023, by Ukrainian authorities, allowing the exports of all commodities from Ukrainian deep sea ports and excluding any additional inspections, which were the case during the times of the UN and Turkey brokered Grain deal agreement.