Dec. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Novorossiysk Commercial Sea Port, Russia’s largest ports operator by cargo turnover, handled 4.78 million metric tons of grain from January through November, or 17 percent less than a year earlier.

The company, also known as NCSP Group, didn’t specify the reason for the decrease in a statement today. Russia banned grain exports from August 2010 until July 1 to secure domestic supplies after the country’s worst drought in at least 50 years parched crops.

The company operates a grain terminal in the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk.

--Editors: John Deane, Sharon Lindores

To contact the reporter on this story: Marina Sysoyeva in Moscow at msysoyeva@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Claudia Carpenter at ccarpenter2@bloomberg.net