Russia Gradually Resuming Black Sea Wheat Exports

File Photo: Workers harvest wheat in a field at the outskirts of Beja governorate, about 115 km (71 miles) north of the capital Tunis, file. REUTERS/Anis Mili

Asharq Al Awsat

12:38-14 March 2022 AD ـ 11 Sha’ban 1443 AH

Asharq Al Awsat

12:38-14 March 2022 AD ـ 11 Sha’ban 1443 AH

Russia Gradually Resuming Black Sea Wheat Exports

File Photo: Workers harvest wheat in a field at the outskirts of Beja governorate, about 115 km (71 miles) north of the capital Tunis, file. REUTERS/Anis Mili

Russia is gradually resuming wheat exports from its Black Sea ports while navigation in the Azov Sea remains restricted, analysts said on Monday.

Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, calling its actions a "special military operation".

"Exports are ongoing from all the five Black Sea (grain export) terminals," IKAR agriculture consultancy said in a note, Reuters reported.

Prices for Russian wheat remain extremely volatile, IKAR said, adding that for wheat with 12.5% protein content from the Black Sea ports they were at $415 per ton free on board (FOB) on March 11.

Sovecon, another consultancy, said that Russia's Black Sea terminals loaded 400,000 tons of wheat last week, and that vessels were going in and out of the ports there.

"Full navigation in the Azov Sea is still closed but some vessels are starting to pass through the Kerch Strait (to the Black Sea)," it added.

In the domestic market, Russian farmers started to refuse previously signed contracts amid strong demand from exporters and domestic buyers, Sovecon said.

Russia's recent decision to suspend grain exports to some ex-Soviet countries is yet to be approved, but, Sovecon said, market participants already report unofficial restrictions for rail supplies of grain from Siberia to Kazakhstan.

Russian wheat exports are down by 45.4% since the start of the 2021/22 marketing season on July 1 because of a smaller crop and an export tax that had been set at $86.3 a ton for March 16-22.

A cold snap is expected in several winter wheat-producing regions in Russia this week but thick snow cover will keep sowings safe, Sovecon said.

World

Photos Likely Show Undeclared North Korea Uranium Enrichment Site, Analysts Say

13 September 2024, North Korea, ---: A photo released by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on 13 September 2024, shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (C) inspecting a uranium enrichment facility. Photo: -/KCNA/KNS/dpa

06:32-15 September 2024 AD ـ 12 Rabi’ Al-Awwal 1446 AH

Photos Likely Show Undeclared North Korea Uranium Enrichment Site, Analysts Say

Photos of North Korea's its uranium enrichment facility may show an undeclared site for building nuclear bombs just outside of its capital, analysts said.

North Korea for the first time showed images on Friday of the centrifuges that produce fuel for its nuclear bombs, as leader Kim Jong Un visited a uranium enrichment facility and called for more weapons-grade material to boost the arsenal.

The photos showed Kim walking between long rows of metal centrifuges, the machines that enrich uranium. The report did not mention the facility's location.

North Korea watchers and analysts said the site, known as Kangson, is suspected to be a covert uranium enrichment plant.

Jeffrey Lewis, a non-proliferation expert at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, said five images of the inside facility, including of the "big" hall and an annex released by state media, match features of satellite imagery of the nuclear site.

The annex's odd shape and it unusual set of columns and beams are a "strong match" to the site North Korea constructed this year, he said.

"That's likely Kangson. It is an enrichment plant," Lewis added.

North Korea is believed to have several sites for enriching uranium.

Analysts say commercial satellite imagery has shown construction in recent years at the main Yongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Center and the Kangson site, suggesting possible expansion in both places.

Colin Zwirko, a senior analytical correspondent with NK Pro, a Seoul-based website that monitors North Korea, said the photos and satellite imagery indicate the complex is Kangson.

In June, Rafael Grossi, the International Atomic Energy Agency's director general, said a new annex to the main building in the Kangson complex was being built this year, adding that the complex shared "infrastructure characteristics with the reported centrifuge enrichment facility at Yongbyon."

During the visit that was covered by North Korean media, Kim stressed the need to boost the number of centrifuges to "exponentially increase" the nuclear arsenal, and expand the use of a new type of centrifuge to strengthen the production of weapon-grade nuclear materials.

The photos that showed an advanced design of centrifuges and the hall with cascades connecting the centrifuges suggested the North Korea had made progress in uranium enrichment program, according to experts.

"The size of the cascades and hall shown also signify substantial capacity, perhaps not to the level of 'exponential growth' as Kim has mandated, but significant growth, nonetheless," 38 North, a Washington-based North Korea monitoring program, said in a note.

"It is probable that these centrifuges are North Korean designed and manufactured," it said, adding that the location showed in the photos could be Yongbyon.

The disclosure of its secretive nuclear facility could also be meant to influence the US election and send a message to the next administration that denuclearization is no longer possible, some experts said.

Russia Gradually Resuming Black Sea Wheat Exports

Russia Gradually Resuming Black Sea Wheat Exports

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Photos Likely Show Undeclared North Korea Uranium Enrichment Site, Analysts Say

Photos Likely Show Undeclared North Korea Uranium Enrichment Site, Analysts Say

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