Suez Canal
Geneva: In light of recent attacks on cargo vessels in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden by Yemen-based Houthi rebels – with the latest incidences involving bulk vessels – shipping data indicates a drop in total grains and oilseeds volumes transiting via the Suez Canal.
An increasing number of shipping vessels has been rerouted in the past two weeks to avoid the Suez Canal amid heightened security risks, causing a nearly 40% year-on-year drop in shipments of wheat through the Canal, to around 0.5 million metric tonnes.
According to the World Trade Organization (WTO) Wheat Dashboard, an information tool developed by the WTO and the International Grain Council, launched in May 2023 as part of the international response to growing global concerns about food security, in December 2023, around 8% of wheat shipments from the European Union, the Russian Federation and Ukraine to selected Asian countries and Eastern Africa were delivered via routes other than the Suez Canal. This compares with an average of 3% before December 2023. During the first half of January, the share of shipments using alternative routes is estimated to have surged to 42%.\Wheat shipments from the EU via routes other than the Suez Canal totalled 330,000 metric tonnes from the start of December to mid-January (compared to 50,000 metric tonnes during the same period last year). Around 190,000 metric tonnes of wheat have been diverted via alternative routes from the Russian Federation over the same period (compared to zero one year ago). However, all shipments from Ukraine to the Asian and Eastern African countries continued to transit via the Suez Canal during December 2023 and January 2024.
It is estimated that around 76 million metric tonnes of grains, oilseeds and oilseed products are shipped annually from the European Union, the Russian Federation and Ukraine to Asia and Eastern Africa, representing 17% of global trade in those commodities.
The new data also indicated some slowdown in in world seaborne wheat imports in recent months versus the previous year, with the cumulative volume as at mid-January marginally lower year-on-year. This compares to a 17% year-on-year increase as of the end of August 2023 and a 6% rise as of the end of October.
Overall, world wheat trade has proved to be resilient in the face of recent market shocks, including the COVID-19 pandemic and Black Sea hostilities, with no major disruption noted in seaborne bulk shipments.
– global bihari bureau
