IMC reduced corn exports due to attacks on ports
21.01.2026 - 12:56
At the same time, alternative routes — Romanian ports, the Danube, or land crossings on the western border — are significantly more expensive.
Due to Russian shelling of deep-sea port infrastructure in late 2025, IMC sharply reduced shipments at the start of January 2026. This is reported by Elevatorist.
In December, the company exported 63.5 thousand tons of corn — almost half the year-on-year figure, and in the first two weeks of January — 30 thousand tons compared to almost 50 thousand tons a year earlier.
IMC CEO Oleksandr Verzhykhovsky explained that alternative routes are significantly more expensive. Thus, railway logistics has become more expensive by about 40% due to a drop in wagon turnover, and insurance rates for vessels in the Black Sea have increased against the backdrop of shelling, which further puts pressure on the cost of exports.
“There is no full-fledged alternative to deep-sea ports,” the company’s head emphasized.
According to the Ministry of Development, only during the last quarter of 2025, Russia damaged 20 merchant ships and destroyed 47 port facilities, which directly affected the pace and cost of grain exports.
USM also previously wrote that last year Russia carried out 1,195 attacks on Ukrainian railways.
