Russia’s grip on dry bulk has only tightened over the past few years as it has expanded its fertilizer and grain trading activities, among other things.
And this can be seen in London-based brokerage Braemar’s latest dry cargo report.
It shows that Russia’s dry bulk cargo handling has increased by 10% in 2023 compared to the previous year.
”(…) the switch in focus of coal export markets towards the Pacific har incenticised sizeable mining and supply chain investment to assist coal exports, which is now coming to fruition,” the report states.
Two types of dry cargo in particular are driving the growth.
The handling of grain products in Russia has increased 56% to 70.2 million tons. Mineral fertilizers have also made a similar jump with a 52% increase in the amount handled by Russians.
This means that a total of 36.7 million tons of mineral fertilizers have flowed through Russia’s ports over the past year.
According to the Association of Commercial Sea Ports (ASOP), the jump is partly due to terminal expansions in the Baltic Sea, at Ultramar and in St. Petersburg.
For grain, the gains are also attributed to improvements in crop yields and expanded export quotas.
Slow year for Russian coal
However, one dry cargo segment has performed less impressively in Russia.
Looking at how much coal the Russians have handled in 2023, the volume has actually decreased by 0.04%.
The report highlights that this may be due to disruptions in port and rail operations.
Last month, the International Energy Agency (IEA) reported that a number of new rail and coal port projects were underway in Russia. Still, the IEA expects Russian coal exports to fall by 15 million tons over the next three years.
China, South Korea, Turkey and India are currently the largest importers of coal from Russia.
