The BRICS Grain Exchange Initiative and Its Role in Supporting Global Food Security

As part of efforts to strengthen global food security, the BRICS Grain Exchange initiative—officially endorsed since April 2025—is now on track to become one of the world’s most significant trade infrastructures, with the potential to fundamentally reshape global food market rules.

The exchange aims to enable direct interaction between exporters and buyers while establishing an independent pricing mechanism. According to Russian officials, this framework could enhance food security, improve market stability, and strengthen Russia’s grain exports. Estimates by the Russian Grain Exporters Union suggest that once fully operational, the BRICS Grain Exchange could concentrate approximately 30 to 40 percent of global supply of major grains. This large-scale trade volume would include Russian wheat, Brazilian soybeans and corn, and Indian rice.

Moreover, the launch of the exchange is expected to stimulate the development of supporting infrastructure, including logistics hubs, port terminals, specialized storage facilities, maritime and land transportation networks, as well as financial and insurance systems. The BRICS vision is considered promising, as the bloc may also contribute to reshaping global food markets through the development of irrigation technologies, improved sanitary standards, and the promotion of South–South trade corridors.

Despite its potential, experts emphasize that the initiative faces serious challenges. The first challenge is time, as building infrastructure, establishing regulatory frameworks, developing pricing indices, and creating settlement networks is a multi-year process. The second challenge concerns the payment system; the BRICS Grain Exchange requires a joint payment mechanism or even a dedicated barter-based currency to reduce dependence on Western and dollar-dominated systems. The third challenge is competitiveness; prices offered by the exchange must be reliable and comparable to global markets in order to attract buyers.

Alongside these developments, analysts—despite projecting more than a 15 percent increase in global agricultural production by 2035—continue to view the outlook for food security as concerning. Projections indicate that the number of people facing severe food shortages could rise to nearly one billion worldwide.