Western grain companies are withdrawing one by one from Russia, the world's largest wheat exporter. Cargill, Viterra and Louis Dreyfus, which are among the largest companies in the global grain trade, have decided to pull out of the Russian market. While the withdrawal of Western companies means that local companies will have more control over Russian grain shipments, it has raised concerns about global grain supplies.

US multinational Cargill has announced that it will stop exporting grain from Russia from July. However, it will continue to receive shipments from other companies. Another grain giant, Viterra, has also announced that it has decided not to continue with its Russian export programmes after the 1st of July. Viterra, together with Russia's Demetra Holding, operates a terminal at the port of Taman with an annual capacity of 5 million tonnes of grain and a terminal in Rostov with a capacity of 1.5 million tonnes.

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Following in the footsteps of these two companies, which supplied around 14 per cent of Russian grain to world markets last season, Louis Dreyfus, one of the world's grain giants, has also announced that it will stop exporting grain from the country. According to Bloomberg, Archer-Daniels Midland Co, which along with Bunge, Cargill and Louis Dreyfus handles more than 70 percent of the world's grain trade, is also planning to end its operations in Russia.

All three companies that decided to pull out said that government pressure and operational difficulties following Russia's war with Ukraine last year had made it impossible to continue operations in the country.

The decision by the grain giants to halt their export activities in the Russian market has raised concerns about the shipment of Russian grain to world markets and global grain supplies, which have already been disrupted by the Ukraine-Russia war. As a result of these concerns, wheat futures prices rose to multi-week highs. The Russian Ministry of Agriculture, however, believes that the departure of Western grain companies will not affect the country's grain exports.