Russia, Bahrain to Create Middle East Grain Distribution Hub

Russia and Bahrain are creating a hub for Russian wheat shipments, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum on Friday (June 20). He stated that “Together with our friends from Bahrain, we are going to create a whole hub for shipping wheat from Russia. Many Arabic countries are interested in this. We will move in this direction step by step.”

Russia is the world’s biggest wheat exporter. Russian Agriculture Minister Oksana Lut has said that the 2025 summer season (ending on June 30) will see Russian wheat exports total about 44 million tons. In 2024 Russia harvested 125.9 million tons of grain, including 82.6 million tons of wheat.

Bahrain is looking for new ways to position itself as a hub for Middle East trade, as the country does not have the huge oil and gas reserves of its neighbors and is diversifying its economy away from the energy sector.