Ukraine said its crop shipments through the Black Sea safe-passage corridor remained suspended for a second day, adding to uncertainty about future supplies from the key agriculture exporter.
(Bloomberg) — Ukraine said its crop shipments through the Black Sea safe-passage corridor remained suspended for a second day, adding to uncertainty about future supplies from the key agriculture exporter.
Under a deal brokered last year to keep Ukraine’s grain flowing, a joint coordination center in Istanbul hosts teams from Ukraine, Russia, Turkey and the United Nations that check ships headed to and from three Ukrainian ports. No inspections took place on Monday, which Kyiv blamed on obstruction by Russia, and Ukraine’s infrastructure ministry said Tuesday that activity was still halted.
The latest disruption to the seaborne shipments comes at the same time as three of Ukraine’s European Union neighbors have stopped allowing imports of some of its agricultural cargoes — threatening a key alternative route to export markets. Poland, Hungary and Slovakia in recent days banned imports of Ukrainian grain over concerns the supplies are hurting their domestic markets.
Poland said Tuesday that it will keep the import ban in place, but will permit the transit of Ukrainian grain from Friday. Earlier, Ukrainian grain producer Agrotrade said how the recent moves have affected trade.
“All trade inside the country has stopped. One cannot sell a ton of grain to anyone,” Olena Vorona, chief operations officer of Agrotrade, said in an interview. “Cars are at the border with Europe, stuck, as the other side does not accept them. The Russians do not go out for inspections in Istanbul, all boats stand still.”
Ship inspections were also briefly halted last week, and Moscow has indicated it may quit the initiative if its issues regarding its own grain and fertilizers aren’t resolved by mid-May. The threat underscores uncertainty over the export deal that has been crucial for bringing down global food-commodity costs from records reached after Russia’s invasion.
Read: Ukraine Grain Snarled Again With Blockages Now on Two Fronts
“Russia still refuses to follow a plan of Ukrainian ports and imposes on Ukrainian ports its own plan, which is unacceptable,” Ukraine’s infrastructure ministry said in a text message.
Earlier, RIA Novosti cited Russia’s Director of the Department of International Organizations of the Russian Foreign Ministry Petr Ilyichev as saying that inspections of ships within the framework of the Black Sea grain deal had resumed.
Benchmark wheat futures earlier touched the highest in almost three weeks, before erasing gains to trade little changed at $7.055 a bushel in Chicago. The market reaction to the disruptions has been relatively muted — it’s not a peak time for crop shipments and the new harvest is several months away.
The Black Sea export deal was brokered last year by the UN and Turkey. Turkey said Defense Minister Hulusi Akar would meet with Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov on Tuesday for grain talks.
EU Bans
Poland and other neighboring nations had agreed to help Ukraine move its cargoes through their territory after Moscow’s invasion temporarily blocked Black Sea exports last year. But part of that supply is now piling up in eastern Europe — pressuring local farmers as global grain prices have slumped from last year’s peak.
Slovakia has said Ukraine can still move its grain through Slovakian territory. Ukraine will be able to resume transit of its grain through Polish territory from Friday after reaching an agreement in talks between ministers from both countries in Warsaw, Economy Minister Waldemar Buda said Tuesday. Hungary hasn’t specified what its import ban means for transit of Ukrainian goods.
Elsewhere, Romania’s ruling Social Democrats plan to ask their partners in the ruling coalition, the Liberals and the ethnic Hungarians, to agree on a temporary suspension of imports of grains and food products from Ukraine because of the pressure it puts on the local farmers amid insufficient support from the EU.
The restrictions underscore splinters in the bloc’s efforts to support Ukraine. Some member states have voiced dissent over issues including arming Kyiv, banning Russian energy imports and helping the war-ravaged country to export food that helps feed millions in developing nations.
–With assistance from Andra Timu and Kateryna Choursina.
(Updates prices, adds details on Poland from fourth paragraph)
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