January 26, 2012

Russia's Novorossiysk to ship out 1.2 million tonnes grain

The United Grain Co. said that Russia's Novorossiysk terminal will export 1.2 million tonnes of grain in the first quarter.

The terminal exported more than 2.2 million tonnes of grain from the marketing year's start on July 1 and through December 31, 2011, the company said in an e-mailed statement Wednesday (Jan 25).

The main export destinations were Kenya, Israel, Libya, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Jordan, Iraq and Yemen, it said. More than 50,000 tonnes of grain were shipped as humanitarian aid to North Korea and Nicaragua.

United Grain's terminal is one of two grain exporting facilities in the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk. The other terminal belongs to OAO Novorossiysk Commercial Sea Port.

United Grain said it plans to expand the terminal's grain handling capacity to at least five million tonnes a year by 2014 from 4.5 million tonnes. Last season, most of which was covered by a grain export ban after a severe drought in Russia, the terminal exported 547,024 tonnes. In the previous season, about 3.4 million tonnes were sent, according to the statement.