By Pavel Polityuk
KYIV (Reuters) - Ukraine exported 4.8 million metric tons of food via its Black Sea corridor in December, surpassing the maximum monthly volume exported under a previous U.N.-brokered grain deal, brokers said on Wednesday.
Prior to Russia's invasion in February 2022 Ukraine exported about 6 million tons of food per month via the Black Sea.
It now relies on the corridor along its western Black Sea coast near Romania and Bulgaria, its small ports on the Danube River, and exports over land via eastern Europe.
Kyiv believes it has managed to dislodge Russian forces from the western part of the Black Sea, securing grain exports which are crucial to its economy as well as important imports.
"Thanks to the work of the Ukrainian Navy, which ensured the functioning of the Ukrainian sea corridor, Ukraine shipped a record amount of agricultural products by water in December," Spike Brokers, which tracks and publishes export statistics, said on the Telegram messaging app.
Via its small ports on the Danube River Ukraine exported 1.3 million tons of food in December, Spike Brokers said.
Ukraine has exported 15 million metric tons of cargo through its Black Sea corridor since creating it in August, including 10 million tons of agricultural goods, a senior government official said this week.
Ukraine launched the corridor after Moscow withdrew from the U.N.-brokered deal in July and threatened to treat all vessels as potential military targets.
Maximum monthly volume exported via the UN-brokered corridor was 4.2 million tons in October 2022, Deputy Infrastructure Minister Yuriy Vaskov told foreign diplomats last year.
Ukraine, a major global grain grower and exporter, expects an exportable surplus of 50 million tons in the 2023/24 July-June season.
The country had exported 19.9 million tons of grain as of Jan 10 with January's volumes exceeding those from a year earlier.