IDAHO WHEAT COMMISSION

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Grain Shipments Being Diverted from Suez Canal

Grain shipments increasingly are being diverted away from the Suez Canal because of attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden by Iranian-backed Houthi militia based in Yemen, the World Trade Organization (WTO) said on a social media platform on Jan. 18. The WTO said on X (formerly Twitter) that wheat shipments via the Suez Canal plunged to 500,000 tonnes in the first half of January, almost 40% lower year-on-year.  “Available data points to surging volume of re-routed vessels to avoid the Suez Canal in the past two weeks, albeit with no major impact on total deliveries to Asia or Eastern Africa,” the WTO noted. The Suez Canal, which connects the Red Sea and Mediterranean Sea, is the shortest shipping route between Europe and Asia.

Read more about grain shipments here