Symbolic imageBlack Sea shipping costs hit record as Ukraine cuts grain export forecast
Oil tanker rates out of the Black Sea hit a record on Wednesday after a drone barrage, Bloomberg reports. The war's squeeze on the region's ports is feeding through to European grain prices.
The Wall Street Journal calls the Black Sea another global chokepoint squeezed by a war now more than four years old. FAZ reports mounting Russian attacks on port facilities, through which Ukraine ships about 90 percent of its grain. Alternative export routes are constrained by record low water on the Danube.
Kyiv trims its export outlook
Ukraine's agriculture ministry has cut its forecast for the 2026/27 crop year by 3 to 5 million tonnes, to 38 to 40 million tonnes.
Wheat and maize above year-ago prices
Wheat traded at 213 euros a tonne on Wednesday, down 4 percent on the week but 9.5 percent above the 195 euros of a year earlier. Maize is 13 percent dearer than a year ago in Chicago and 33 percent on European exchanges, according to Bloomberg data cited by FAZ.
Moscow blames Kyiv
Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Kyiv's campaign to provoke chaos on the global food market, including strikes in Azov-Black Sea waters, serves several Western countries' interests and deepens grain and fertiliser shortages in the Global South.
Other opinions
TASS carries only Moscow's account and mentions neither the record freight rates nor Kyiv's lower forecast; the Western outlets do not report the accusation.