Harvest Commodities SA and Harvest Group SA
According to reporting by Public Eye, in May 2023, Troost increased his holdings of Harvest Commodities SA to 45%.[1] Between May 2022 and July 2024, this company and the branch in the United Arab Emirates bought about 90 shipments of Russian grain. Public Eye also discovered that Harvest Commodities SA was listed as the Harvest Group SA’s Geneva office.[2]
Based on Public Eye reporting:[3]
“According to GlobalWits, the Harvest Group bought over 60 cargoes of Russian grain between May 2022 and January 2024 from Demetra Trading (until July 2022) and Grain Gates, companies which are closely related, according to Russian media and with links to the state-owned Russian bank VTB and sanctioned billionaire Alexander Vinokurov (the son-in-law of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov). In July and August 2023, ME Harvest Trading FZE based in Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates also exported close to 30 cargoes from Russia. This amounts to a total of over 90 shipments, or about 3 million tonnes of grain. Another entity, Harvest Trading SPC purchased over 40 shipments of Russian corn and barley from January to July 2024 (just after Harvest Group SA ceased exporting from Russia for the group).”
According to Public Eye reporting:[4]
“While trade in Russian agricultural commodities is not targeted by sanctions, it is well documented that systematic plundering of grain is taking place in the territories occupied by the Russian armed forces, particularly in the Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia regions. Most of the plundered goods end up on international markets as Russian commodities due to various tactics used to hide their Ukrainian origin. For example, grain is transported to Russia and then mixed with Russian grain in Black Sea ports. Ship-to-ship transfers are also used.”
There are several articles and interviews with Troost[5] that refer to the alleged participation of Troost and his company Harvest Commodities SA in the “Grain from Ukraine program”. Troost claims that he and his company invested in the construction of a grain storage facility in the port of Izmail. According to Public Eye reporting:
“In August 2022, the Geneva-based company praised itself in a press release translated into ten languages for successfully chartering two ships (Riva Wind and Arizona) from the Ukrainian ports of Odesa and Chornomorsk, as part of a partnership with the Indonesian Arsari Group. These shipments, containing a total of 105,000 tonnes of corn destined for Turkey, were among the first commercial shipments dispatched from Ukraine since the full-scale invasion on 24th February 2022 under the Black Sea Grain Initiative (BSGI). A successful media campaign for the “international merchant and distributor” which was picked up by the Financial Times, including a photo of Riva Wind.” In one interview, Troost asserts that his ships took 350,000 tons of grain out of Ukraine for sale in Turkey, Egypt, China, Italy, Georgia and Croatia. (Troost for some unknown reason says that the port of departure was Odessa, not Izmail.)
Troost recently stated to Hell Financiele Dagblad that he invested $100M in Ukraine.[6]
"Paramount invested $70 million in a pasta and bread factory in Angola and more that $100 million in a company that helped export grain from Ukraine. 'I'm the only idiot who dares to do something like that.”
However, there is only one documented instance of Troost exporting Ukrainian grain through Harvest Commodities SA. This took place in August 2022 and it was a deal brokered between Troost’s then-partner Gaurav Srivastava, the Ukrainian Ambassador to Indonesia, and the head of Arsari Group (the current serving Indonesian Minister of Defense and brother to Indonesian President).[7]
Otherwise, there appears to be no public evidence of Troost moving any Ukrainian grain despite Troost’s declarations to the press. Recent enquiries suggest that:
The Georgian customs department has no information about Harvest Commodities.
There is no information in Ukrainian state databases about the investments of Troost and/or his companies in the construction of granaries in Izmail.
There is no fiscal data in the database of the Ukrainian Ministry of Finance confirming the transfer of funds or the payment of duties, taxes, social contributions by Harvest Commodities.
There is no documentation in the State Land Bank of Ukraine, which is the operator of agricultural land usage and investments in the agricultural sector, or any trace of Troost's participation in the Grain from Ukraine program. There are no payments, customs or other financial documents in the name of Troost or Harvest Commodities.
It is possible that Troost's recent foray into grain trading through his joint venture Harvest Commodities SA is an attempt to camouflage his oil trading activities. Trade data indicates that Harvest Group (possibly via an entity called Harvest Pars Khavarmianeh Company[8])vessels made shipments from Russian ports known as oil trading hubs to Iranian ports of a similar nature, including the Harvest Legacy’s voyages from Taman to Bandar Imam Khomeini.[9]
[1] Note that Harvest Commodities SA is now in liquidation. https://www.shab.ch/shabforms/servlet/Search?EID=7&DOCID=LS01-0000049749
From Russian Oil to Grain: The Strange Conversion of a Geneva-based Trader, PublicEye, Dec. 13, 2024, https://www.publiceye.ch/en/topics/soft-commodity-trading/from-russian-oil-to-grain-the-strange-conversion-of-a-geneva-based-trader.
[2] Note that Harvest Group have said in response to the article: “This company was never a subsidiary of Harvest Group SA and it was a separate business.”
[3] From Russian Oil to Grain: The Strange Conversion of a Geneva-based Trader, PublicEye, Dec. 13, 2024, https://www.publiceye.ch/en/topics/soft-commodity-trading/from-russian-oil-to-grain-the-strange-conversion-of-a-geneva-based-trader.
[4] From Russian Oil to Grain: The Strange Conversion of a Geneva-based Trader, PublicEye, Dec. 13, 2024, https://www.publiceye.ch/en/topics/soft-commodity-trading/from-russian-oil-to-grain-the-strange-conversion-of-a-geneva-based-trader.
[5]В Ізмаїльському порту побудують нові зернові склади, - інвестор Harvest Commodities Нільс Троост, БІЗНЕС ЦЕНЗОР, Jan. 2, 2024, https://biz.censor.net/news/3465139/v_izmayilskomu_portu_pobuduyut_novi_zernovi_sklady_investor_harvest_commodities_nils_troost; New Grain Warehouses Will Be Built In Port Of Izmail, - Harvest Commodities Investor Niels Troost, Censor.net, Jan. 2, 2024,
https://censor.net/en/news/3465221/new_grain_warehouses_will_be_built_in_port_of_izmail_harvest_commodities_investor_niels_troost; Бомба уповільненої дії: що відбувається з експортом українського зерна морем?, ЕКОНОМІЧНА ПРАВДА, Jan. 23, 2024, https://epravda.com.ua/columns/2024/01/23/709047/; Hoe een Nederalndse Olihandelaar op de EU-sanctielijst belandde en nu Zwitserland niet meer uit kan, Hell Financiele Dagblad, 8 Feb. 2025, https://fd.nl/bedrijfsleven/1544464/hoe-een-nederlandse-oliehandelaar-op-de-eu-sanctielijst-belandde-en-nu-zwitserland-niet-meer-uit-kan; From Russian Oil to Grain: The Strange Conversion of a Geneva-based Trader, PublicEye, Dec. 13, 2024, https://www.publiceye.ch/en/topics/soft-commodity-trading/from-russian-oil-to-grain-the-strange-conversion-of-a-geneva-based-trader (“In January 2024, according to Eureporter, the Ukrainian Minister of Agrarian Policy welcomed the gradual resumption of grain exports via a temporary corridor through the Black Sea, made possible ‘thanks to the support of our Armed Forces and the trust of international partners’. Immediately after, the online service presented Niels Troost, an ‘investor in Harvest Commodities SA’, as one of these partners. ‘We had full confidence and trust in these projects and immediately agreed to be among the first ones to work together with our Ukrainian partners” said Troost. It was also reported that the company wanted to build grain warehouses at the Ukrainian port of Izmail on the Danube.
‘Our investments in local infrastructure and logistics not only create jobs and bring foreign currency to the region, but also ensure that grain from Ukraine will continue to play an important role in providing food to consumers from third world countries, including Africa,’ Troost remarked enthusiastically. The Ukrainian news site also said that, since 2021, Harvest Commodities SA had ‘exported more than 350,000 tons of Ukrainian grain to Turkey, Egypt, China, Italy, Georgia, and Croatia’. According to Niels Troost, between May 2021 and January 2024, over 709 000 tonnes of Ukrainian grain had been exported.”).
[6] Hoe een Nederlandse oliehandelaar op de EU-sanctielijst belandde en nu Zwitserland niet meer uit kan
[7] Harvest Commodities Announces Departure Of Two Grain Ships From Ukraine, Ship Technology, Aug. 8, 2022, https://www.ship-technology.com/news/harvest-commodities-grain-ships-ukrainian/
[8] This is an Iranian-incorporated company based in Tehran and a likely subsidiary of Harvest Group. Trade data shows that one of Harvest Group’s bulk carriers – the Harvest Legacy (IMO 9284245), flagged in Panama and owned through a Liberian shell company, Harvest Legacy Shipping (IMO 6454367) – is behind grain shipments from Russia to Iran, with recent deliveries recorded at Bandar Imam Khomeini after loading in Taman, Russia, and previously from Constanza, Romania. From Russian Oil to Grain: The Strange Conversion of a Geneva-based Trader, PublicEye, Dec. 13, 2024, https://www.publiceye.ch/en/topics/soft-commodity-trading/from-russian-oil-to-grain-the-strange-conversion-of-a-geneva-based-trader.
[9] From Russian Oil to Grain: The Strange Conversion of a Geneva-based Trader, PublicEye, Dec. 13, 2024, https://www.publiceye.ch/en/topics/soft-commodity-trading/from-russian-oil-to-grain-the-strange-conversion-of-a-geneva-based-trader.