The Ministry of Transport announced the growth of grain supplies to Turkey and China

In the first 6 months of 2023, Russian Railways loaded 27 million tons of food cargo, which is 25% or 6 million tons more than in the same period in 2022. Konstantin Grigoriev, Deputy Director of the Department of State Policy in the Field of Railway Transport of the Ministry of Transport of Russia, announced this at a round table in the Federation Council.

He said that traditionally, in the second quarter of the year, a seasonal decrease in the volume of grain transportation was recorded, but this year, taking into account the record harvest of 2022, the shipment rates, especially for export, remained high. And for 6 months of 2023, 11.2 million tons of grain were exported, which is 2.2 times more than in 2022.

     The increase in the loading of other food cargoes was provided by export shipments mainly due to an increase in the supply of vegetable oil to China against the backdrop of a high level of gross harvest of oilseeds and an increase in the production of these products
     Konstantin Grigoriev, Deputy Director of the Department of State Policy in the Field of Railway Transport of the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation

According to him, among the grains abroad, wheat is mainly exported, and its key consumers are African countries. At the same time, new trends have emerged. So, for 6 months of this year, deliveries to Turkey and the countries of Southeast Asia, mainly to China, are growing.

In addition, the CIS countries are actively interested in Russian grain. In particular, deliveries to Azerbaijan and Kyrgyzstan increased by 1.5 times due to wheat, corn, and barley.

During the meeting, Grigoriev also said that at the moment the fleet of grain cars in the country is 60.7 thousand units, in 2022 it increased by almost 2.5 thousand, including new innovative cars.

“Railway transport is ready to ensure the transportation of both a new grain crop and other food cargo,” the official said.

Earlier, the head of the Federation Council Committee on Agrarian Food Policy and Environmental Management, Alexander Dvoinykh, said that the Russian agro-industrial complex had achieved a record grain harvest in 2022. In his opinion, the next step should be the dissemination of this experience on the territory of new Russian regions.