Second Group of Ships Leaves Ukrainian Port After Food Deal

As reported on Aug. 7th, four ships carrying grain and corn left Ukrainian ports on Sunday. Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said in a statement that this was the second caravan of ships to leave Ukraine after the grain deal. The ships were carrying nearly 170,000 tons of agricultural products.

The first three ships carrying 80,000 tons of corn were cleared to leave Ukrainian ports last Monday, the first exports since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February; the first carrying 44,000 tons of corn to the city of Iskenderun in Turkey, the second is carrying 60,000 tons of corn to Iran via Istanbul, the third ship has carried 6,000 tons of sunflower oil to Italy, and the last one has carried 45,000 tons of sunflower meal to China.

All ships will be anchored in ports north of Istanbul and will pass inspection by a joint office with representatives from Ukraine, Russia, Turkey and the United Nations before being shipped to their destination countries. This is one of the regulations in the food agreement reached last month.

The report’s analysis suggests that the small scale of the initial export volume will not drive down food prices or ease the global food crisis. Drought weather this year has affected crop production, coupled with rising fertilizer costs making grain prices more than 50% higher than early 2020. Millions of poor people in Africa, the Middle East, and parts of Asia face food crises that will not be solved in the short term.