The second edition
The second Grain Forum was held at Hilton Dubai Al Habtoor City on 20–21 February 2024. More than 1,000 delegates from 40 countries and over 250 companies attended — twice the 2023 figure — across two working days.
The forum opened with Zero Day and its networking grain cocktail, where the conversation was logistics: risks in the Red Sea, freight trends across the Black Sea, Mediterranean and Caspian basins, and liner services running to Africa and Asia.
What was discussed
Four business sessions followed on the first full day, covering food security, Russian grain in global supply chains, exports to the Middle East and North Africa, the external factors bearing on Russian exports, and niche crops including pulses.
Around those headings ran a steadier set of questions: market access, settlement in national currencies, export logistics, financing, insurance and the development of exchange-based grain trading. Russian exporters and international traders worked through them together, with MENA treated as a principal sales region.
Why it mattered
The Grain Gala Dinner and a Dubai excursion programme closed the event. Doubling attendance in a single year confirmed Dubai as a working meeting point for Russian grain and oilseed producers and buyers from North Africa and the Middle East.
