
The companies fulfilled their promises
Three companies already informed the Russian Ministry of Agriculture in March that they would stop exporting Russian grain. The time until mid-year was to be used to clarify the transfer of subsidiaries operating in Russia to new owners.
The Russian subsidiary of Viterra changed its name from Viterra Rus to MZK Export. It will continue its operations in Russia as an independent exporter. The ministry has not yet provided any information about the plans of Cargill and Dreyfus.
Companies exported significant amounts of grain from Russia
According to the Russian grain union, Viterra exported a total of 3.7 million tons of grain in the 2022/2023 season. In the Cargill subsidiary it was 2.3 million tons. Louis Dreyfus Vostok, a subsidiary of Louis Dreyfus, exported 1.2 million tonnes.
The total export volume of the three companies in the 2022/2023 season was 7.2 million tons of grain; This amounted to over 13 percent. Russian grain exports at that time amounted to approximately 55 million tons.
Viterra's subsidiary took fourth place in the ranking of Russian exporters, Cargill sixth, and Louis Dreyfus eleventh.
Concerns about the Russian grain export market
Director General of the Institute for Agricultural Market Research (IKAR), Dmitry Rylko, pointed out that the market shares of Cargill, Viterra and Louis Dreyfus varied greatly in individual segments of the Russian grain market.
Their departure may seriously affect grain supplies via the Black Sea, where their total share was quite high and amounted to 20%. Nevertheless, the supply of Russian grain to international customers should not deteriorate significantly.