KYIV, UKRAINE — Grain exports from Ukraine have fallen to 9.8 million tonnes, Reuters reported, citing Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food data, compared to 14.3 million tonnes at about the same time a year ago.

Exports included 4.9 million tonnes of wheat, 4.1 million tonnes of corn and almost 700,000 tonnes of barley. In the previous season, Ukraine exported 5.4 million tonnes of wheat, 7.7 million tonnes of corn and 1.2 million tonnes of barley.

In November, traders had exported 500,000 tonnes of grain so far, compared with 1.07 million tonnes last year.

Ukraine is among the world’s leading exporters of wheat, corn and barley. The country traditionally has shipped most of its agricultural products through its deepwater Black Sea ports, which have been under siege since Russia’s February 2022 invasion and blockade. Since the end of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which offered safe passage for grain shipments until July this year, Russia also has attacked Ukraine’s agricultural infrastructure on the Danube River.

Ukrainian officials said 51 cargo vessels had entered a new Black Sea shipping corridor since it came into operation in August as Kyiv stepped up a push to defy the de-facto Russian blockade. Ukraine’s new corridor does not go directly toward the Bosphorus Strait as it did under the initiative but hugs the coastlines of Ukraine and NATO members Romania and Bulgaria. The corridor temporarily was suspended on Oct. 26 due to the threat of Russian warplanes and sea mines.

The government said in a resolution published last week that a new export regime would be introduced for key food commodities aimed at preventing abuses such as tax avoidance.

The Ukrainian government anticipated a harvest of 79 million tonnes of grain and oilseeds in 2023 with exportable surplus of about 50 million tonnes.