"Turkiye has retained its position as the main importer of Russian grain and wheat in the first half of the 2023-2024 season," the union stated on Telegram, adding that Turkiye's imports of Russian grain in the said period amounted to 4.281 million tonnes, down 12.7% year-on-year, including a 2% decrease in wheat imports to 3.929 million tonnes.
Egypt ranked third in the list of grain importers, having reduced imports of Russian grain by 24.6% year-on-year to 2.956 million tonnes.
Iran was second on the list of the largest importers of Russian grain in the said period, having increased imports by 4.9% year-on-year to 3.902 million tonnes. However, Tehran significantly reduced imports of wheat from Russia - by 39.8% year-on-year to 1.063 million tonnes and was ranked fifth in the list of the largest importers of Russian wheat.
Saudi Arabia ranked fourth with a 10.2% increase in grain imports from Russia to 2.009 million tonnes, while Bangladesh was fifth, having increased grain imports from Russia nearly 2.5 times in the said period to 1.966 million tonnes.
Meanwhile, Egypt ranked second on the list of importers of Russian wheat, and Bangladesh was third after increasing imports of Russian wheat 2.4 times to 1.928 million tonnes. Algeria was the fourth, with deliveries of Russian wheat having increased by 25.7% to 1.448 million tonnes over the same period.