A single day in Istanbul
The BBS Grain Conference returned to Istanbul on 2 June 2025 as a single working day. More than 200 delegates from over 20 countries attended, drawn from agribusiness, logistics, trading, shipping and insurance across the corridor.
Four business sessions covered grain export and production potential across the Black Sea and Balkan countries, competition in the global market, oilseeds and processed products, and the logistics of the corridor itself — new routes, freight conditions and currency instability.
The season in question
Exports from Russia, Türkiye, Bulgaria, Romania and neighbouring markets were the working material, discussed against trade restrictions and transport chains that had shifted again. The corridor question was less about volume than about how, and at what cost, the volume would move.
Speakers included the Serbia Grains Association, S&P Global Platts, Agrozan Commodities and the Turkish Shipbrokers Association, alongside trading and shipping companies from across the region — the shipbroking presence a mark of how much of the discussion was freight.
Why it mattered
The BBS Gala Dinner at The Oven closed the day, with negotiations continuing there in an informal setting. A single-date format kept exporters, traders, freight and insurance in the same room from morning to evening.
