The expansion of grain export capacity at Russian ports will boost the country's grain shipments by 30 million tonnes annually from 2022, Agriculture Minister Alexander Tkachev was quoted as saying last Tuesday. Russia is one of the world's largest wheat exporters and its total grain exports are expected to hit a record 45 million tonnes in the 2017/18 marketing year, which began on July 1, but limited infrastructure has put a brake on further growth, analysts say.

The current modernisation of a grain terminal at the Novorossiysk Grain Plant in the Black Sea port of Novorossiisk would double its capacity, Tkachev told the Federation Council, Russia's upper house of parliament, according to Interfax news agency. A project to develop Russia's Black Sea port of Taman and construction of a new grain terminal in Russia's far east would also increase grain export capacity.

Copyright Reuters, 2018