A survey of cereal trade in Bessarabia through the ports of Reni and Ismail in 1812-1856

Scholarly investigations and archive documents point to the paramount importance of the river ports of Reni and Izmail in the exports of cereals from Bessarabia in the first half of the XIX c. In this period the leading part in the export belonged to Izmail. The main exported cereal was wheat; it was followed by barley, rye, and maize. By various measures the tsarist administration stimulated cereal exports from Bessarabia to the Russian market instead of the European, which had been traditional for this trade. Thus Bessarabia was included in the economical system of the Russian Empire.