How a Port Grain Price Is Built: FOB, CPT, EXW

Exporters and farmers see different numbers for the same grain every day: one price «at the elevator», another «at the port», a third «on the exchange». The gap is not speculation — it is the delivery basis, i.e. who pays the logistics and up to which point. Here are the three terms you meet most often in port trade.

EXW — the «at the gate» price

EXW (Ex Works) is the lowest price: the seller hands over grain at the warehouse or elevator and the buyer pays for all logistics. This is the figure a farmer sees in domestic reports. To compare it with a port price you must still add trucking and transshipment.

CPT — price delivered to the port

CPT (Carriage Paid To) means the seller has already paid delivery to a named port — for example CPT Kiliya or CPT Odesa. It is the most convenient basis for comparing terminal offers, because the haulage leg is already included, so two CPT quotes to different ports can be put side by side.

FOB — the «on board» price

FOB (Free On Board) — the grain is already loaded onto the vessel at the port, and the buyer pays the sea freight from there. FOB Black Sea is the benchmark the global market uses to value Ukrainian grain. The gap between EXW and FOB is the total cost of logistics and transshipment.

• EXW — cheaper, but the buyer hauls it from the warehouse;
• CPT — grain delivered to the port, easy to compare terminals;
• FOB — grain on board, sea freight on the buyer.

The question is not «where is it more expensive» but «where is the haulage leg shorter» — for a farmer in southern Odesa region the Danube ports often win on logistics.

For a producer in Bessarabia or the south of the Odesa region, the short haul to the Danube ports (Kiliya, Izmail, Reni) often makes the final port price more attractive than long-distance trucking to deep-sea ports. GTK in Kiliya helps you cost out your route by basis.