Ukraine’s largest grain producer and exporter suspends port terminal operations in Chornomorsk after two nights of strikes

Ukraine’s largest grain producer and exporter, Kernel, has suspended operations at its terminals in Chornomorsk after Russian forces carried out massive strikes on the port over two consecutive nights — from July 10 to 11 and from July 11 to 12.

This was reported by Ukrainska Pravda.

The company said its port facilities sustained “significant” damage as a result of the overnight strikes. The suspension is the latest consequence of a series of attacks on Kernel’s infrastructure in Chornomorsk this year. In June, a Russian drone strike damaged the company’s grain storage and transshipment capacity, causing grain to spill and disrupting operations. In May, a separate attack on a vegetable oil terminal resulted in a leak of approximately 1,100 tonnes of oil and left one employee injured.

Kernel, whose shares are listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange, had previously warned investors that the accumulated damage could “negatively affect the terminal’s grain transshipment capacity” during the period of repair work.

The attacks came amid a broader escalation of strikes on port infrastructure. According to Bloomberg on July 11, mutual strikes on key grain export routes — including Ukrainian drone strikes on four Russian vessels in the Sea of Azov — triggered a spike in wheat prices. Global wheat prices rose by more than 4 percent as traders assessed the likelihood of prolonged shipping disruptions from one of the world’s key grain-producing regions.

Reuters reported in June that intensifying Russian strikes on Ukrainian seaports could reduce the country’s monthly grain shipment volumes by roughly one third, bringing export figures for ports in the Odesa region down to 4 million metric tonnes per month. According to industry executives cited in that report, port terminal operators have incurred combined losses of approximately €1.3 billion since the start of the full-scale war.

Early estimates of Ukraine’s wheat harvest for the 2026/27 season range from 22.3 to 23.5 million tonnes, but the ability to bring that grain to market depends directly on the uninterrupted functioning of port infrastructure. The suspension of Kernel’s operations is compounding volatility in agricultural commodity markets at a time when weather-related factors in other major producing regions are already destabilizing markets.