How grain export works: five documented steps
MOSTAGRO runs a Russian grain stem as a sequence, not a rumour: enquiry and quote, contract and escrow, origination, port and loading with SGS / BlaCtrl, then shipping documents. Funds sit in escrow until those documents exist. No banks in the release.
- Firm offer within 24 hours if the enquiry is complete
- Escrow locked before loading · release against B/L and SGS
- Named trader owns the file from first email to discharge
A transparent 5-step process
Each step below is expanded on this page. The names match the working file the desk actually runs.
Enquiry & Quote
You send grade, volume, destination and Incoterms. We reply with a firm offer within 24 hours.
Contract & Escrow
We issue a proforma and a Sales Contract. A digital-asset escrow is set up and locked before loading.
Origination
Grain is sourced, consolidated at the elevator and sampled for independent lab analysis.
Port & Loading
Rail/truck to port, pre-shipment inspection by SGS / BlaCtrl, then vessel nomination and loading.
Shipping & Docs
Full set of original documents couriered. Tracking until discharge at your destination port.
Enquiry & Quote
A usable enquiry names four things: grade (for example milling wheat 12.5% protein), volume in metric tons, load or discharge port, and Incoterms (FOB Novorossiysk, CIF Mersin, CFR, or DAP). Optional but useful: packing (bulk, 50 kg, 1 MT big-bags), laycan month, and whether the stem is a mill purchase or a GASC-type tender. A named trader replies with a firm offer within 24 hours, Monday–Friday 09:00–19:00 GMT+3.
"Firm" means the price is tied to a specification, a port and a
validity window — not a screenshot of last week's clearance
list. If the enquiry is incomplete we will ask for the missing
field rather than invent CIF when you meant FOB. Send the desk
the four fields via the
contact form or
.
Contract & Escrow
After the offer is accepted we issue a proforma invoice and a Sales Contract. The contract names the seller (MOSTAGRO), the grade, quantity tolerance, Incoterms, load or discharge port, inspection (SGS or BlaCtrl), documents, and the escrow instruction. A digital-asset escrow is set up at this point and locked before any grain is loaded. Loading does not start on a handshake.
How escrow works, in the only sense that matters to a mill treasurer: funds are locked when the contract is signed. They are not released to MOSTAGRO against a warehouse receipt or a promise. They are released against the shipping documents — bill of lading, phytosanitary certificate, certificate of origin and the SGS inspection report. No bank letter of credit. No bank sits in the middle of the release. If the documents are not presented as contracted, the funds stay in escrow. That is the whole point of using escrow instead of a prepaid trader who then goes looking for cargo.
Buyers who still think in L/C language can treat the document list as the equivalent of the L/C presentation set, with the practical difference that we do not wait on a confirming bank in a third country. The named trader on the file is the same person who signed the offer.
Origination
Grain is sourced under direct contracts with farming cooperatives in the Southern, Volga and Central federal districts, then consolidated at owned and partner elevators. This is not a spot purchase after the vessel is already on the way to Novorossiysk. Lots are built to the contractual protein, moisture, gluten and admixture, then sampled for independent lab analysis before rail or truck dispatch.
If the elevator sample fails the spec, the lot is re-blended or replaced. It is cheaper to reject at the silo than to argue at the ship's rail. The origination model is written up separately; the operational fact for this step is that origination happens after escrow is locked and before the stem is tendered to the load port.
Port & Loading
Rail or truck moves the accepted lot to the named load port — Novorossiysk as default for milling wheat, otherwise Tuapse, Taman, Azov or Rostov-on-Don as contracted. Pre-shipment inspection is by SGS or BlaCtrl against the sales-contract specification. Vessel nomination and loading follow only after that inspection. The chartering desk works laycan, NOR and demurrage with the carrier so the commercial file and the stem are the same conversation.
Bulk in hold is the default for mill and feed stems. 50 kg bags and 1 MT big-bags are used when the discharge side cannot take silo grain, including many DAP Afghanistan programmes. Private label printing, if contracted, must be ready before NOR — not after the master has tendered. Port mechanics, vessel sizes and Incoterms are on FOB Novorossiysk grain logistics. Load- port sales are worked through the FOB Novorossiysk route; mill CIF is typically milling wheat CIF Mersin for Turkey.
Shipping & Docs
When loading is complete the original document set is issued and couriered: bill of lading, phytosanitary certificate, certificate of origin, SGS / BlaCtrl report, plus any tender extras named in the contract. Escrow releases against that set. The buyer is not asked to "trust the shipment" and wire the balance. The documents are the release trigger.
After sailing we track the vessel until discharge at the named port. CIF buyers get carriage and insurance to that port as contracted; FOB buyers already own the ship. Either way the named trader remains the contact until the cargo is off the hook — not a new "operations" email that has never seen the contract. If discharge is Mersin or Marmara, typical Black Sea transit is 4–7 days. Egyptian Mediterranean ports and Bandar Abbas take longer; DAP Afghanistan is an overland clock, not a sea one.
Send grade and volumeProcess — common questions
How does digital-asset escrow work if we do not use banks?
Funds are locked in escrow when the sales contract is signed, before loading. They are released only against the agreed shipping documents — bill of lading, phytosanitary certificate, certificate of origin and SGS report. No bank letter of credit and no bank intermediary.
How fast is a firm quote?
A named trader replies within 24 hours during Monday–Friday 09:00–19:00 GMT+3, provided the enquiry names grade, volume, port and Incoterms.
Who inspects the cargo before loading?
Pre-shipment inspection is by SGS or BlaCtrl against the contractual specification. If the certificate does not match, the lot does not load.
Ready to run a stem on this process?
Send grade, volume, port and Incoterms — firm offer within 24 hours.