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By Natalia Chumakova and Olga Popova
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian farming conglomerate Rusagro has begun exporting sunflower oil from the St Petersburg terminal (PNT) on the Baltic Sea as it seeks to overcome bottlenecks at Black Sea ports, according to LSEG data and four sources.
Russia, the world's leading wheat exporter, has a goal to boost its agricultural exports by 50% by 2030. It has been turning increasingly to its Baltic ports, typically used for crude and refined oil products, as capacity is limited at the Black Sea ports that dominate export food shipments.
According to LSEG ship tracking data, the first sunflower oil cargo at PNT was loaded last month onto a tanker called Lanikai with a deadweight of 46,317 metric tons. Its destination was India, the sources said.
The loading of another sunflower oil cargo is expected later in March.
Neither Rusagro nor PNT replied to requests for comment.
The industry sources, who all asked not to be named because they were not authorised to speak publicly on the issue, said that Rusagro has rented two reservoirs at the terminal, for sunflower oil and for imports of palm oil.
One of the sources said the company has long-term plans for exporting sunflower oil from the terminal.
President Vladimir Putin is seeking to increase agricultural exports as part of a strategy to position Russia as a global agriculture power alongside with Brazil, China and the United States.
Apart from being the biggest wheat exporter, Russia has become the leading exporter of corn, barley and peas.
Further growth could be constrained by domestic demand as well as shipping capacity limits.
Russia is trying to boost loading capacity in various regions, although the Black Sea ports dominate shipments, accounting for 90% of Russia's seaborne grain exports that totalled 62.4 million metric tons in the 2023/2024 season.
(Reporting by Natalia Chumakova and Olga Popova; writing by Vladimir Soldatkin; editing by Guy Faulconbridge and Barbara Lewis)
