Nearly 25 million tonnes of wheat are stuck in Ukraine due to blockades of Black Sea ports, including Mariupol, and infrastructure problems. According to Reuters, representatives of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) stated this today.
Ukraine was the world’s fourth-largest corn exporter last season and the sixth-largest wheat exporter, according to International Grains Council data.
The grain freeze is believed to be one cause of high food prices, which hit record highs in March as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to FAO, before easing slightly in April.
“The almost dire situation we see in Ukraine today with nearly 25 million tonnes of grain that can be exported but cannot leave the country simply because of a lack of infrastructure and blockades of ports,” said FAO Deputy Director Josef Schmidhuber.
He added that full silos could result in a lack of storage space during the next harvest in July and August. According to him, reports that some grain warehouses were destroyed in the fighting in Ukraine are also a cause for concern.
Because of war #Ukraine cannot supply about 25 million tonnes of grain to other countries. The organization called the situation odd – grain was ready to ship, but they couldn’t get it out “due to a lack of infrastructure and a port blockade.” pic.twitter.com/ucPzGNDZ5X
— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) May 6, 2022
Since Moscow launched what it called a “special military operation” in late February, Ukraine has been forced to export grain no longer by sea, but by rail across its western border or from small river ports on the Danube.
“It would really help the world if we could evacuate this grain (from Ukraine),” said World Trade Organization (WTO) director Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. “There is a serious risk that food prices will rise and become unaffordable, which could lead to more hunger,” he added.
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