Germany will provide an additional 15 million euros for grain supplies from Ukraine under the World Food Program, German Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz said, speaking via video link at the .summit on food security in Kiev.
“As we speak, the World Food Program ship sponsored by Germany is on its way to Ethiopia with Ukrainian grain,” he said.
Scholz stressed that “hunger should never be used as a weapon. That is why we cannot tolerate what we are seeing today.”
“We know that by targeting agricultural infrastructure in Ukraine and blockading the Black Sea ports for months, Russia has only made the world’s food situation worse,” he said.
“We have come together to send a clear message – we do not accept Russia’s cynical war. That’s why we are happy to take part in the Graine from Ukraine program,” he said.
The Ukrainian Grain Association (UGA) increased the forecast for the harvest of grain and oilseeds in Ukraine in 2022 by 4.4% compared to the August forecast, to 67.5 million tonnes from 64.5 million tonnes, according to the UGA website on Wednesday.
This change in forecasts is due to an increase in the area where the crop will be harvested, as well as an improvement in the average yield from 3.57 tonnes/ha to 3.64 tonnes/ha.
According to it, the total export of grain and oilseeds from Ukraine in the 2022/2023 marketing year (MY, July-June) can reach 47.5 million tonnes (in the forecast for August, 31% less – 32.8 million tonnes), provided that marine grain corridors are operational until the end of the marketing year. At the same time, the transitional balances of agricultural products in the country at the beginning of 2022/2023 MY amounted to 26 million tonnes of grain and oilseeds, and by the end of the MY they are estimated at 19.2 million tonnes (in the forecast for August, 37% more – 30.5 million tonnes).
“In general, export of grain and oilseeds in 2022/2023 MY can be expected at the indicated level if the Ukrainian Black Sea ports continue to operate until the end of the season. Exporting grain through Ukrainian ports and ensuring the safety of navigation in the Black Sea is the only way to quickly and efficiently supply Ukrainian grain to countries that are in dire need of it,” the organization said in a statement.
According to UGA forecasts, in 2022, a wheat harvest is expected at the level of 19.3 million tonnes (1.5% more compared to the August forecast); 24 million tonnes of corn (forecast kept); 5.6 million tonnes of barley (3.7% more); 10 million tonnes of sunflower (11% more); 3.6 million tonnes of soybeans (1.6 times more); and 3.15 million tonnes of rapeseed (5% more).
In the November forecast, the association raised its export forecasts compared to August ones – for example, wheat exports in 2022/2023 MY are expected at the level of 13 million tonnes (33% more), corn – 20 million tonnes (a 2-fold increase), barley – 2 million tonnes (forecast is kept), sunflower – 6 million tonnes (forecast is kept), soybean – 3.5 million tonnes (an increase of 2 times), and rapeseed – 2.8 million tonnes (forecast is kept).
“We estimate the preliminary forecast for the harvest of grain and oilseeds for the next 2023 at the level of 53.2 million tonnes, and export at the level of 39.7 million tonnes. Everything will depend on the conditions under which Ukrainian farmers will be able to carry out spring sowing, and subsequently harvest crops,” the UGA said in the statement.
For 2 days 9 vessels with 162 thousand tons of agricultural products for the countries of Africa, Asia and Europe departed from Big Odessa ports, the Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine informs.
“In particular, the bulk carrier BOZBURUN – M with 40 thousand tons of wheat for Ethiopia departed today. This is already the eighth vessel chartered by the UN World Food Programme as part of the assistance to countries in Africa and Asia,” the Telegram channel said.
In the ports of Greater Odessa under the processing of 26 ships. They are loaded with 1 million tons of Ukrainian agricultural products.
Since August 1, 475 ships left the ports of Big Odessa, which exported 11.2 million tons of Ukrainian food products to Asia, Europe and Africa.
The United States, through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), is providing up to $20 million to the Grain from Ukraine initiative announced by President Vladimir Zelensky at the G20 Summit earlier this week to help feed people around the world, USAID said in a release Friday.
“USAID will provide support through the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) to facilitate the delivery of additional shipments of Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea Grain Initiative,” the release said.
The U.S. agency recalls that before Putin’s invasion, Ukraine was one of WFP’s largest grain suppliers and the fourth largest commercial exporter of wheat in the world.
Today’s announcement builds on WFP’s existing $173 million support to date to buy Ukrainian grain to feed people in countries facing the most severe food crises, including Ethiopia, Yemen, and Afghanistan. Thanks to U.S. funding, 210,000 tons of food was purchased, enough to feed an estimated 12.6 million people for one month.
All told, since the start of Putin’s war against Ukraine in February, the U.S. has provided more than $11 billion to combat the global food crisis, including nearly $8.6 billion in humanitarian aid, the release indicated.
According to it, USAID also continues to help Ukrainian farmers who risk their lives to feed the world through the Agricultural Sustainability Initiative-Ukraine (AGRI-Ukraine). The initiative focuses on four areas that are critical to supporting Ukraine’s agricultural exports and its contribution to global food security: providing critical resources for farmers; improving export logistics and infrastructure; improving farmers’ access to finance; and addressing the needs of drying, storing, and processing crops. USAID has invested $100 million in the initiative, and the agency seeks to raise at least $150 million in additional funding from other donors, foundations and the private sector.
Ukraine has exported 15.95 million tons of grain crops since the beginning of the 2022/2023 marketing year (MY, July-June) and through November 18, including 8.44 million tons of corn (52.9% of total supplies), 6.14 million tons of wheat (38.5%) and 1.31 million tons of barley (8.2%).
As reported on the website of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food on Friday, the rate of grain exports since the beginning of this MY is 31.2% lower than the same period last MY (from July 1, 2020 to November 18, 2021, 23.2 million tons were delivered abroad), although back on November 14 lag was minimal for the past few months at 30.6%.
According to the Ministry, from the beginning of 2022/2023 MY and until November 18, 2022, Ukraine exported 6.14 million tons of wheat (2.23 times less than the same period a year earlier), 1.31 million tons of barley (3.72 times less), 11.2 thousand tons of rye (6.8 times less) and 47.6 thousand tons of flour (1.4% less). At the same time, the rate of corn exports exceeded last year’s volume: 8.44 million tons were exported, which is 1.95 times higher than in 2021/2022 MY on the same date.
It is specified that since the beginning of November, Ukraine exported 2.75 million tons of grain crops, including 1.14 million tons of wheat, 1.39 million tons of corn, 199 thousand tons of barley, 5 thousand tons of rye and 9.2 tons of flour.
As follows from the Ministry data, during the last reporting period, November 14-18, 212.5 thousand tons of grain were supplied to the foreign markets on average per day, while during the preceding period of November 7-14 – 118.6 thousand tons per day, November 2-7 – 178 thousand tons per day, October 26-November 2 – 170 thousand tons per day, and October 21-26 – 132 thousand tons per day. Thus, the average daily rate of exports during the reporting period of November 14-18 has increased by 1.8 times compared to the previous period of November 7-14.
As reported, Ukraine exported 48.51 million tons of grains and leguminous crops in 2021/2022 MY, which is 8.4% higher than during the previous MY, despite the full-scale invasion of Russia and the difficulties with the export of agricultural products due to the blockade of Ukrainian seaports. 18.74 million tons of wheat (12.6% more than in 2020/2021MY), 23.54 million tons of corn (+1.9%), 5.75 million tons of barley (+35.9%), 70.9 thousand tons of flour (-44.1%) were supplied to foreign markets.
In 2020/2021 MY, the country exported 44.72 million tons of cereals and legumes: 16.64 million tons of wheat, 23.08 million tons of corn, 4.23 million tons of barley, 126.9 thousand tons of flour and 18.4 thousand tons of rye.
In 2019/2020, Ukraine exported 56.72 million tons of grain and leguminous crops.
Agricultural company Grain Alliance (Sweden) with assets in Ukraine has purchased and installed four diesel electric generators with a total capacity of 1.7 MW at Piryatynskyi elevator in Poltava region, which will enable the company to ensure continuous operation during prolonged power outages.
As reported on the company website on Wednesday, thanks to its own power generation the enterprise works productively despite the difficulties with electricity in Ukraine: as of the morning of November 7, the granary with the total capacity of 100 thousand tons has stored almost 20 thousand tons of corn, over 23 thousand tons of soybeans and 1.5 thousand tons of sunflower.
“We installed and connected all four generators promptly almost on the day of receipt, despite the weather or other technical conditions. The cumulative capacity produced by the new elevators is 1.7 MW. Thus, the division has ensured its energy independence in order to meet the set production objectives to the end,” Grain Alliance quotes Piryatynsky elevator director Oleksandr Gavrilenko as saying.
Silos with a total capacity of up to 100 tons of agricultural products are installed on Piryatynsky granary: six silos of 8 tons each produced by “Lubnymash”, 4 silos of 12 tons by “Option Agro Bud” and two silos of 5 tons by KMZ Industries.
In total, Grain Alliance has six granaries in Ukraine with a total capacity of over 260 thousand tons.
Before war, the agricultural holding farmed 57 thousand hectares in Kyiv, Poltava, Chernigov and Cherkassy regions, grew over 300 thousand tons of grains and oilseeds a year, and owned more than a thousand head of cattle.
The founders of Harvest Moon East LLC (Baryshevka village, Kyiv region) and BZK Grain Alliance (Sweden) created a joint company, Grain Alliance, in 2009.
