Ukraine's maritime export terminals have reduced grain intake due to constant Russian attacks, which are curtailing trading activity, analyst Barva Invest said on Friday.
Ukraine, a major global corn grower and exporter, relies on Black Sea ports in the Odesa region for almost 90 per cent of its agricultural exports, which are attacked by Russian missiles and drones on an almost daily basis.
"Due to shelling by Russia, some ports and terminals have restricted the acceptance of products. This further slows down trading activity on the Ukrainian corn market, which was already suffering from complicated logistics and a shortage of supply," Barva Invest said on social media.
Ukraine’s economy ministry said on Friday that corn exports so far in the 2025/26 season fell to 3.99 million tonnes as of December 5, against 7.6 million tonnes on the same date last year.
Ukraine’s largest farmers’ union UAC has reported low rates of corn exports, saying this is due to slow harvesting and the need to dry the grain before shipping it abroad.
Analysts said this week farmers had harvested corn from 78 per cent of the planted area as of December 4, compared to 95 per cent this time last year.
Farmers also complained about the lack of locomotives for export, which leads to a big increase in the time it takes to deliver grain to ports from central Ukrainian regions.
(Reporting by Pavel Polityuk;Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)