Ukraine began exporting grain through Croatian seaportsaiming to expand its export routes as its Black Sea ports are blocked, a senior Ukrainian official said today.

The bulk of Ukrainian grain exports normally follow the route through Ukrainian ports on the Black Sea, but Kiev has been looking for alternative routes after Russia’s invasion last year and Moscow’s decision in mid-July to withdraw from the agreement on grain exports through Black Sea.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba said during a visit to Zagreb in late July that Ukraine and Croatia agreed on the possibility of using Croatian ports on the Danube and the Adriatic Sea to export Ukrainian grain.

“Ukrainian grain has already been exported through Croatian ports. We are grateful for this possibility. Although it is a specialized trade route, it is already popular,” Deputy Prime Minister Yulia Sviridenko noted in a written statement.

“We are ready to develop it by expanding the possibilities of the transport corridor,” he noted. “We believe that this route will play an important role in bilateral trade between our countries even after the war,” he added.

Sviridenko did not elaborate on the amount of Ukrainian grain already transported through Croatian ports.

Since Russia withdrew from the agreement which was concluded under the auspices of the UN and guaranteed safe exports of Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea, Kiev is increasingly using its Danube ports to export grain. Russia, however, is attacking Ukrainian port infrastructure on the Danube.

Some exports are also made by rail, but Ukrainian trade representatives say that deliveries made by rail to European ports are much more expensive than direct exports through Ukrainian ports.

The UGA Ukrainian Merchants Association announced this week that combined grain and oilseed harvest in 2023 could reach 80.5 million metric tonsand this means that around 49 million tonnes may be exported in July-June 2023/24.