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Some 321 Ukrainian port infrastructure facilities have been damaged by Russian drone and missile attacks since July last year, Reuters reports Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy saying in a statement on Saturday. On top of this figure, around 20 tankers owned by other countries were also damaged.
Domino effect: Ukraine is a major wheat and corn producer, exporting some 6 mn tons of gain annually via the Black Sea prior to the ongoing war. Around 100 countries globally receive Ukrainian-grown products, meaning “food prices in Egypt, Libya, Nigeria, and other countries in Africa are directly [dependent] on whether farmers and agricultural companies in Ukraine can operate normally,” Zelenskiy added.
On the up: Ukraine’s gain export was bolstered by some 3.6% y-o-y to around 51 mn tons in the 2023/2024 market season, up from 49.2 mn the prior year. Its grain exports surged by 45.4% y-o-y to 16 mn metric tons by mid-November in the July-June 2024/2025 season, up from 11 mn tons last year.
ON THE RUSSIAN SIDE- The US slapped new sanctions on mega Russian private-owned bank Gazprombank last Thursday, Reuters reports, citing a US Treasury Department statement. Gazprombank is now barred from trading with American citizens and its US assets are frozen. Transactions related to Russia’s far east oil and gas project Sakhalin-2 will be exempt from falling under sanction until 28 June 2025. The move comes as the US claims Gazprombank, of which state-owned gas company Gazprom owns a partial share, is a conduit for Russian military purchases in its war against Ukraine.
Cashew nutshell biofuel wreaks havoc for some vessels: Several ships in Singapore and Rotterdam reported operational problems including fuel sludging, injector failure, and filter clogging after using marine fuel blended with cashew nutshell liquid biofuel, Reuters reported last week, citing a statement from Singapore’s CTI-Maritec. The testing agency indicated that it tested samples from the affected ships and found the marine fuel was blended with cashew nutshell liquid that was sourced from underdeclared source materials or production processes, but did not name the vessels involved or how many ships were affected.
