Five ships loaded with grain, including corn and wheat, departed Ukrainian ports on Tuesday, the Anadolu news agency reported with reference to the Turkish Defense Ministry.
Two ships left Pivdenny port and three others Chornomorsk port, it said.
The Joint Coordination Center in Istanbul is also set to inspect four vessels en route for Ukraine to be loaded with grain on Tuesday.
Participants in four-sided negotiations (the United Nations, Russia, Turkey, and Ukraine) signed two documents in Istanbul on July 22 regulating the functioning of a sea corridor for exporting grain from the Ukrainian seaports of Odesa, Chornomorsk, and Pivdenny.
The opportunity to use all three seaports of Big Odesa within the framework of the Istanbul Grain Initiative will help increase transshipment volumes to three or five vessels a day within two weeks, Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov has said.
“Our goal is to increase transshipment in ports. Within two weeks we plan to reach the transshipment volume of three or five vessels per day,” the Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority (USPA) quoted him as saying in connection with the departure of the first vessel from the port of Pivdenny – Sacura with 11,000 tonnes of soybeans for Italy on Monday.
Earlier, as part of the grain initiative, eight vessels with corn, sunflower seeds and sunflower oil with a total tonnage of over 250,000 tonnes left the ports of Odesa and Chornomorsk. Four of them with 84,500 tonnes have already arrived in Istanbul and have been or are being tested by the Joint Coordination Center.
Together with the vessel Arizona, which also left Chornomorsk for Turkey on Monday, carrying 48,500 tonnes of corn, the total number of vessels reached 10, and their tonnage was about 310,000 tonnes.
In addition, within the framework of the Istanbul Grain Initiative, the first vessel for loading since the beginning of the war has already arrived in the Ukrainian port on August 7, and the second on the same day was inspected by the Joint Coordination Center near Istanbul.
“We are working with the guarantors of the agreements so that the grain corridor works smoothly and all the requirements for shipping are met,” Kubrakov said.
The departure of three dry cargo ships with grain and food from Ukrainian ports is scheduled for August 5, Minister of National Defense Hulusi Akar said, Turkish Anadolu agency reports.
According to the agency, Akar held separate talks with Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov and Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov. The issues of grain transportation were discussed at the talks.
In addition, the vessel is also expected to be checked and sent from Istanbul for loading in Ukraine, the Turkish Defense Minister said.
The Ukrainian authorities have not yet announced the departure of the courts on August 5.
On July 22, in Istanbul, with the participation of the UN, Ukraine, Russia and Turkey, two documents were signed on the creation of a corridor for the export of grain from three Ukrainian ports – Chornomorsk, Odessa, Pivdenny.
On August 1, the vessel Razoni with 27 thousand tons of corn left the port of Odessa under the flag of Sierra Leone and is heading for Lebanon.
Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba said the next ships with Ukrainian grain are loaded and ready to depart.
“Next ships with Ukrainian grain are loaded and ready to depart. If Russia holds to its commitments under the UN-brokered grain initiative, they will reach foreign customers and help tame food prices and avert hunger. Ukraine remains committed to combating global food insecurity,” Kuleba said on Twitter on Thursday night.
The forecast for the harvest of grain and oilseeds in Ukraine this season has been improved by approximately 5-7 million tons – up to 65-67 million tons from 60 million tons, according to the website of the government portal on Wednesday.
It is specified that the increase in the harvest forecast was announced by the Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food Mykola Solsky during a conference call between Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal and the heads of regions.
In turn, the Prime Minister noted that in the context of the Russian military invasion in Ukraine, 12 million tons of new crop grain have already been harvested from a total area of 3.5 million hectares.
Shmyhal also announced the emergence of additional opportunities for grain exports due to the unblocking of the Odessa seaport under the Istanbul Agreement on the export of agricultural products from Ukraine, concluded on July 22 under the auspices of the UN.
“In total, in June we exported 3.2 million tons out of 5 million tons (pre-war monthly volumes – IF-U) that were required. Exports are gradually growing both by rail, by road, and through the Danube ports. Sea ports will significantly expand these opportunities and farmers will receive new opportunities for the sale of products. The state is doing everything necessary for this,” the Prime Minister’s government portal quotes.
Shmygal also noted the recently introduced grant program for the development of horticulture, greenhouses, the development of processing and micro-enterprises, under which over 5,000 applications have already been submitted and processed, and this week the first applicants will receive state support.
As reported, the US Department of Agriculture in the July report predicts the harvest of Ukrainian wheat in the 2022/2023 marketing year (MY, July-June) at the level of 19.5 million tons, its export – 10 million tons, domestic consumption within the country – 10.2 million tons . The corn harvest is estimated at 25 million tons, export – 9 million tons, domestic consumption – 10.7 million tons.
In early July, the Ukrainian Grain Association (UGA) increased the forecast for the harvest of grains and oilseeds in Ukraine in 2022 by 4.4% compared to the May forecast, to 69.4 million tons from 66.5 million tons.
According to her forecasts, in 2022 the wheat harvest is expected at the level of 20.8 million tons (+8.3% to the organization’s May forecast); 27.3 million tons of corn (+4.6%); 6.6 million tons of barley (forecast kept); 9 million tons of sunflower (forecast kept); 2.2 million tons of soybeans (+4.7%); 1.5 million tons of rapeseed (+13.3%).
The Ministry of Infrastructure announced the departure of the first ship with 26,000 tons of Ukrainian corn from the sea trade port “Odessa”.
“The first ship with Ukrainian food left the port of Odessa,” Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine Oleksandr Kubrakov wrote on his Facebook page.
Earlier, People’s Deputy of Ukraine (European Solidarity faction) Oleksiy Goncharenko in his telegram channel said that the first caravan of 16 dry cargo ships with grain from Ukraine would arrive in Turkey on August 3 this year.
As reported, on July 29, the ambassadors of the G7 countries in Ukraine arrived in Odessa to check the launch of the “grain corridor”.
On July 22, under the auspices of the UN, Ukraine and Turkey signed an agreement in Istanbul on the resumption of the safe export of Ukrainian grain across the Black Sea.
On the morning of July 23, Russian invaders attacked the Odessa Commercial Sea Port with Caliber cruise missiles. The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said that the Russian Federation, with a missile attack on the port, questioned the agreements it had given to the UN and Turkey in the “grain” agreement. The UN chief unequivocally condemned reports of air strikes on Odessa, citing the commitments made by the parties at the signing ceremony in Istanbul.
