Ukraine, 54% of agricultural exports thanks to the UN agreement which expires on May 18 – Corriere.it

54% of agricultural products exported by Ukraine, in the last ten months, departed from the three Black Sea ports included in the Black Sea Grain Initiative, the UN agreement on wheat which expires on May 18th. Agreement that has brought a breath of fresh air to the economy of Kiev, easing the risk of tensions on the price of bread that could have caused instability in developing areas heavily dependent on Ukrainian imports. Overall, 30.2 million tons of agricultural products left from the three Ukrainian ports included in the agreement (Odessa, Yuzhny and Chormoronsk): half is corn, while 26.9% is soft wheat, 5.5% is flour sunflower oil, 5.1% sunflower oil.

Beneficiaries of the Black Sea Grain Initiative

China with 7 million tons of agricultural products including wheat, corn and sunflower oil, equal to 23.2% of the total shipped from the three Ukrainian ports, is the country that has benefited the most from the Black Sea Grain Initiative. Spain with 5.4 million tons of products, equal to 18%, and Turkey (3.1 million tons of products, equal to 10.2%) are respectively in second and third place among the countries that most they imported from Ukraine. Italy, however, with 2 million tons (6.7%) is fourth, ahead of the Netherlands, Egypt, Bangladesh, Israel, Portugal and Tunisia. This was stated by the Divulga Study Center which processed the UN and Kiev Ministry of Agriculture data on the routes of agricultural products leaving Ukraine since the «Black Sea Grain Initiative» was signed.

The Russia-Ukraine deal

The «Black Sea Grain Initiative» was signed in July 2022 by Ukraine and Russia, with the mediation of Turkey. On the one hand, the agreement made it possible to alleviate the food crisis in many African and Middle Eastern states, largely dependent on grain supplies from Ukraine, and was the first pact signed by the governments of Moscow and Kiev since the beginning of the war. The agreement expires on May 18 and the renewal at the moment is by no means obvious.

Agricultural products arrived in Italy

In particular, since August 2022, 1.3 million tons of corn, 427 thousand tons of soft wheat, 127 thousand tons of soybeans and 100 thousand tons of sunflower oil have arrived in Italy. «The data clearly show how the ports are a fundamental starting point for Ukrainian agricultural products and it is important that the agreement is renewed and lasts over time both to give relief to the Ukrainian economy strongly tried by the war and to avert tensions in the Countries developing countries heavily dependent on imports from war-torn areas – underlines Felice Adinolfi, director of the Centro Studi Divulga -. These are important quantities of agricultural products, the absence of which is a reason for a strong imbalance in the markets. This strong movement of wheat, corn and sunflower oil in recent months has averted the risk of a new Arab spring which, as we will recall, was triggered by the increase in bread prices».