Türkey remains the main buyer of Russian grain and wheat

By Rhod Mackenzie

According to the Union of Grain Exporters, Turkey remained the primary importer of Russian grain and wheat during the first half of the 2023-2024 season (from July 1, 2023 to June 30, 2024).

According to the union's telegram channel, Turkey remained the top importer of Russian grain and wheat in the first half of the 2023-2024 season. During this period, Turkey imported 4.281 million tons of grain from the Russian Federation, which is a 12.7% decrease compared to the previous year. Wheat imports decreased by 2% to 3.929 million tons.
As a result of a decrease in wheat purchases (24.7% decrease to 2.952 million tons year on year), Egypt moved down to third place on the list of grain importers. Its purchases decreased by 24.6% to 2.956 million tons, causing it to lose its second place position to Iran.

During the first half of the season, there was a significant increase in the import of feed grain crops, which amounted to 3.902 million tons, a 4.9% increase compared to the previous year. However, there was a significant decrease in the import of wheat from the Russian Federation, which fell by 39.8% to 1.063 million tons, placing it fifth in terms of purchases. Saudi Arabia's imports increased by 10.2% to 2.009 million tons, while Bangladesh's imports increased almost 2.5 times to 1.966 million tons.

Saudi Arabia and Bangladesh ranked fourth and fifth, respectively, in terms of Russian grain imports during the first half of the season.

Egypt ranked second in the list of Russian wheat importers, while Bangladesh ranked third with a 2.4-fold increase in purchases, reaching 1.928 million tons. Algeria took fourth place with a 25.7% increase in wheat supplies from the Russian Federation, reaching 1.448 million tons.