War forces grain and oil to travel record distances, UN says

Buyers are shipping grains and oil from further and further away after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine disrupted traditional trade routes.

Shipments of grain traveled longer distances in 2023 than any other year on record as importers switched to buy from other countries after Ukraine’s exports were blocked, according to a review of maritime transport from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, or UNCTAD. Oil cargoes also traveled the furthest since at least 1999, as Russia looked for new export markets.

Russia is the world’s top wheat shipper and a major supplier of oil, while Ukraine is also a major food exporter. The Kremlin’s de-facto blockade of Ukraine’s Black Sea ports and attacks on its river ports have disrupted shipments of grains and agricultural goods. Meanwhile, Moscow is having to redirect its oil exports as European buyers are shunning it. Russia has come to rely on China and India to keep buying.

“Although grain shipments from Ukraine resumed in 2022 thanks to the Black Sea Initiative, several grain-importing countries had to rely on alternative grain exporters. They are instead buying from the United States of America, or Brazil, which requires longer hauls,” according to the report.