Ukraine shipped 8.1 million tonnes of grain through the Romanian Black Sea port of Constanta in the first seven months of the year, the port authority told Reuters, with the pace slowing in July when Russia began attacking infrastructure at its inland ports.
The Danube river is Ukraine’s last waterborne route to export grain after access to its own Black Sea ports was cut off after Russia in mid-July left a safe passage grain corridor agreement brokered by the United Nations and Turkey. Since then, Russia has attacked Danube ports repeatedly.
Constanta Port Authority data showed 8.1 million metric tonnes of Ukrainian grain left port in the first seven months, compared with 7.5 million tonnes by end-June.
Ukrainian grain competes for space in Constanta, which traditionally handles Romania’s crop exports and those of its landlocked neighbours, including Hungary and Serbia.
Overall, it handled 18.9 million tonnes of grain in the first seven months of this year, the Constanta port authority told Reuters.
At its peak before the war in Ukraine, Constanta has handled 25 million tonnes in a year, but some port operators said the record will be topped as many have invested in boosting their capacity.
Ukraine’s Danube ports accounted for around a quarter of grain exports before Russia withdrew from the U.N.-backed deal.
Its Danube ports have since become the main route out, with grain also sent on barges to Romania’s Black Sea port of Constanta for shipment onwards.
Earlier this month, Romanian Transport Minister Sorin Grindeanu said European Union and NATO state Romania aimed to double the monthly transit capacity of Ukrainian grain to Constanta to 4 million tonnes in the coming months.
Various EU-funded connecting infrastructure projects were underway or pending in Romania, Ukraine and neighbouring Moldova, Grindeanu and representatives from the European Commission and the U.S. State Department said.
