File photo of vessels on the Mississippi River south of New Orleans on Nov. 5, 2017. (Dave Bedard photo)

Low water on Mississippi to persist despite improved drought outlook

Risk of getting stuck mean less grain per barge

Chicago | Reuters — Low water levels on the lower Mississippi River are likely to persist through at least January despite expected above-normal precipitation across the southern U.S. this winter, forecasters with the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said on Thursday. The severe to exceptional drought choking the lower Mississippi River valley is expected to […] Read more


Vessels are seen as they await inspection under the Black Sea Grain Initiative, brokered by the UN and Turkey, in the southern anchorage of the Bosphorus at Istanbul on Dec. 11, 2022. (File photo: Reuters/Yoruk Isik)

Russia’s leverage on grain to decline, senior U.S. official says

Attacks on ships may hurt pricing

New York | Reuters — Russia’s leverage over Ukraine’s export of grain via the Black Sea will likely erode in weeks to come as more ships are able to leave Ukrainian ports and rising costs could prompt Moscow to reconsider its abandonment of the grain deal, a senior U.S. State Department official said. James O’Brien, […] Read more

File photo of a bulk vessel at a port grain terminal at Constanta, Romania. (Sergii Zhmurchak/iStock/Getty Images)

Romania, Ukraine to work on grain import-export licensing system

Three other EU countries have bans in place

Bucharest | Reuters — Romania will work with Ukraine over the next 30 days on a grain export control plan that will help protect Romanian farmers, Agriculture Minister Florin Barbu said on Wednesday. Romania is among five eastern European Union countries along with Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia that saw a surge of Ukrainian grain […] Read more


File photo of barley being unloaded at a grain terminal in Ukraine on June 23, 2022. (Photo: Reuters/Igor Tkachenko)

Poland, Hungary, Slovakia to continue own bans on Ukraine grain

European Commission decides not to extend ban

Brussels/Warsaw | Reuters — Poland, Slovakia and Hungary will impose their own restrictions on Ukrainian grain imports, the governments said on Friday, after the European Commission decided not to extend a ban affecting Ukraine’s five EU neighbours. Restrictions imposed by the European Union in May allowed Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia to ban domestic […] Read more

Liberia-flagged bulker K Sukret, carrying grain under the Black Sea Grain Initiative, waits for inspection in the southern anchorage of Istanbul on May 17, 2023. (Photo: Reuters/Mehmet Emin Caliskan)

UN working on guarantees for Russia to restore grain deal, Moscow skeptical

Bombing of Ukraine ports, grain facilities erodes other partners' goodwill, Guterres says

Reuters — The United Nations is “actively engaged” in trying to improve Russia’s grain and fertilizer exports in a bid to convince Moscow to again allow the safe Black Sea export of Ukraine grain, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Thursday. “We believe that it’s necessary to create a system of mutual guarantee,” Guterres told reporters on […] Read more