Russia increased flour exports 3.3-fold in 2022, reaching a record 875,000 tons of wheat flour compared with 259,000 tons in 2021.
This is stated in preliminary data provided by the Russian Institute of the Agrarian Market Conditions, the CFTS portal reports, citing the Interfax news agency.
One of the stated reasons for this sharp increase is that "Ukraine has sharply reduced the export of flour, which has facilitated the increase of [Russian] supplies both to countries that are traditional importers of Russian flour and to new markets."
According to the institute’s Deputy Director Irina Glazunova, the composition and market shares of importers of Russian wheat flour have changed radically in 2022. The leading importers are Iraq (with a 21.7% share), Afghanistan (16.9%), and Turkey (10.5%).
As reported earlier, the Russian naval fleet in the Black Sea began blockading the Ukrainian seaports that accounted for the lion's share of Ukraine’s agricultural exports in mid-February this year. Ukrainian seaports stopped operations after the launch of the full-scale Russian military invasion of Ukraine. The ports of Odesa, Pivdennyi, and Chornomorsk resumed partial operations in August under the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which established a humanitarian maritime corridor to allow ships to export grain and other foodstuffs from Ukraine. However, Russian representatives are obstructing the operation of the humanitarian maritime corridor in every way possible, particularly by delaying inspections of vessels and artificially creating queues near the Bosporus.
Thus, by blocking Ukraine’s maritime exports, the Russians are not only blackmailing the world with food-price inflation and the threat of famine, but also creating conditions for their producers to earn record profits, as shown by the case of flour exports.
