Russia boosts corn exports 1.7-fold in Q1 to 1.2 mln tonnes - Agroexport

MOSCOW. May 15 (Interfax) - Russia exported 1.2 million tonnes of corn in Q1 2026, up 1.7-fold year-on-year, while export revenue increased almost 1.6-fold to over $260 million, the Agroexport federal center told Interfax, citing expert estimates.

The largest buyer as in the previous year was Iran, with deliveries to this country increasing significantly. Turkey increased purchases 6.5-fold to $88 million. In third place was another traditional importer of Russian corn, South Korea, deliveries to which totaled $25 million. The top five also included China and Kazakhstan. Each of these countries imported Russian corn worth over $13 million in Q1, with sales to China increasing 2.5-fold compared to the first quarter of last year and sales to Kazakhstan increasing 45 times.

Corn, along with wheat and barley, is one of the key grain crops that Russia supplies abroad, the head of Agroexport, Ilya Ilyushin, was quoted as saying by the organisation's press service. "The increase in the harvest creates prerequisites for the development of exports of both raw materials and processed products. In particular, the potential for increasing supplies to Iran, Turkey, China, South Korea and other countries remains. The ability to export corn to East Asian countries is especially important for farmers in the Far East, where production far exceeds domestic market needs," he said.

The increase in the corn harvest contributed to strengthening export potential, which increased 6.1% to 14.8 million tonnes in the 2025-2026 agricultural year, the executive director of the Union of Grain Exporters and Producers Ksenia Bolomatova was cited as saying by the press service. "It is worth noting that due to the reduction in the harvest of major grain crops in the 2024-2025 season, the tariff quota for exports last year included only wheat; corn exports practically ceased from February 15, 2025. This year, due to high yields, the quota has been increased to 25 million tonnes, and it includes all major crops - wheat, corn and barley. This has also made it possible to maintain higher corn export rates since mid-February 2026," Bolomatova said.

The further dynamics of corn exports will depend primarily on the new harvest, she said. The development of the situation in Iran will have some influence. In Turkey and China, demand remains stable and sufficient, she said.

The company Dostavka Morem increased corn shipments almost fivefold in Q1 to 23,400 tonnes from 5,000 tonnes a year earlier, with all exports going to Turkey, Agroexport said, citing the company's general director Natalia Tugaleva.

The key destinations that showed explosive growth this year are Turkey and Iran, Tugaleva said. "Other countries - South Korea, China, Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Egypt, Albania and Mongolia - so far remain at the level of last year," she said.