Russia's Baltic Sea ports boosted their annual capacity to handle grain exports to 23.5 million tonnes in October from 8.6 million tonnes in July, a senior Russian Railways executive estimated.
Russia and Ukraine, both major grain producers and exporters, have been pounding each other's grain terminals and vessels in the Black Sea in recent months.
Russian Railways executive Alexei Romashin made the estimate on Thursday at a conference in Moscow, where Deputy Agriculture Minister Maxim Borovoi said Russian Baltic ports could handle as much grain in October as they did in the whole of last season.
Analysts estimated that the percentage of Russian wheat exports shipped through its Baltic ports reached 60 per cent in September, and volumes this month are expected to rise further.
The sharp increase in shipments through the Baltic Sea did not offset the decline in Russian exports, which fell by more than 40 per cent in September compared with last year, leading to a build-up of excess stocks and a collapse in domestic prices.
Russia has sought to reroute to Baltic Sea ports, which handled only about two per cent of Russian grain exports last season, but had significant spare capacity. It is also converting fertiliser and coal terminals to handle grain.
"It is encouraging that the Baltic region has managed, through the combined efforts of the government and businesses, to ramp up volumes so fast despite the sharp decline in shipments from southern Russia," Dmitry Rylko, head of the Ikar consultancy, told Reuters.
Rylko said that total wheat exports would reach three million tonnes in October, with 1.8 million tonnes going through the Baltic ports, compared with 2.5 million tonnes in September, of which 1.4 million tonnes went through the Baltic Sea.
Rusagrotrans railway carrier analysts estimated Russian wheat exports in September at 2.7 million tonnes with 60 per cent going through the Baltic ports.
The analysts estimated that volumes in October through Baltic ports would increase by between 0.3 million tonnes and 0.4 million tonnes this month.
They stressed that further progress will depend on existing railway capacity, including the availability of railway cars.
Ksenia Bolomatova, executive director of Russia's Union of Grain Exporters and Producers, said Russia could supply its main customers through the Baltic Sea, but shipments to more distant countries such as Indonesia could prove problematic.
Last year, Russia exported 4.6 million tonnes of wheat in September and 5.1 million tonnes in October, according to data from the Sovecon consultancy.
Sovecon estimated Russian wheat exports through the Baltic ports at 1.3 million tonnes in September, with 0.4 million exported through ports in Latvia and Lithuania.
Both countries, which are European Union and NATO members, have said they want to end shipments of Russian grain and the Latvian Government has said it will introduce 300 per cent tariffs. For now, the shipments were proceeding, industry sources said.
One industry source told Reuters that Latvia introduced additional checks on whether the grain comes from Russian-controlled regions of Ukraine, delaying shipments.
Grain Union data showed that the port of Ust-Luga on the Baltic Sea, where oil terminals were attacked by Ukrainian drones this year, handled over 30 per cent of total grain exports, or 530,000 tonnes, in September.
The port of Vysotsk shipped 20 per cent of all grain. Smaller volumes went through the port of St. Petersburg.
Kaliningrad, an exclave at the centre of a standoff between Russia and the EU, shipped 40,000 tonnes, which it receives by rail through Lithuania.
Grain Union data showed that some grain trickled through the Black Sea ports of Tuapse and Novorossiysk in September. It estimated Black Sea shipments at 283,000 tonnes for the month.
(Writing by Gleb Bryanski; editing by Barbara Lewis and Alexander Smith)
