Lithuania tightens Klaipeda grain checks, risking months-long delays for Russian exports

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Lithuania tightens Klaipeda grain checks

Highlights

Lithuania will require tests confirming origin for all Russian and Belarusian grain exports via Klaipeda, potentially causing delays of two months or more.
Exporters must cover increased costs for storage, testing, and possible return or destruction, as Lithuania lacks an in-country laboratory and sends samples abroad.
Russian wheat exports remain at about half their normal volume, with Baltic states increasing restrictions as attacks cripple Azov-Black Sea port shipments since mid-August.

Klaipeda testing regime expands next week

As reported by Reuters, Lithuania says wheat, barley, sunflower seeds and maize shipped for export via the Baltic Sea port of Klaipeda from Russia or Belarus will not clear customs until tests confirming their origin are completed.

Lithuania began testing grain shipments from Russia and Belarus in September after raising concerns that some cargoes could come from Ukrainian territories occupied by Moscow. An Agriculture Ministry official says the testing process can take two months or more, and cargoes found to have a fraudulent declared origin will have to be returned or destroyed.

The official adds that the delays are extended because Lithuania does not have a laboratory able to carry out the required tests, meaning samples must be examined abroad. Exporters will bear the costs of storage, testing, and any return or destruction of the grain.

Baltic pressure adds to Russian export disruption

While European Union sanctions ban imports of Russian grain, transit through the bloc remains allowed. Moscow has not commented on the legal status of grain harvested in regions internationally recognised as Ukrainian.

The Baltic states are seeking to stop Russian and Belarusian grain transiting through their ports after Moscow steps up use of Baltic export routes following Ukrainian attacks on vessels and infrastructure at Black Sea ports. Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania proposed an EU-wide ban last month, while Estonia has already imposed its own restrictions.

Russian and Ukrainian wheat shipments through Azov-Black Sea ports have been at a virtual standstill since mid-August after attacks on vessels and terminals. That has left Russia searching for alternative export routes, but Russian wheat exports are still running at about half their normal volume.

Earlier, we reported that two Black Sea chemical tankers caught fire near Romania’s Danube canal approach, heightening concern over grain-route security.

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