Export sales of Ukrainian wheat are steadily growing. Since the beginning of February, more than 2 million tons have been contracted, which could be a record volume of deliveries for the season. As of March, 1.4 million tons of wheat have already been sold.
This issue was discussed on February 20 during the weekly briefing organized by the analytical center of the First Agricultural Ukrainian Cooperative (FUAC), created within the Ukrainian Agri Council.
“Traders say that Indonesia is very actively involved in purchases of Ukrainian feed wheat. This Asian country has sky-high prices on the domestic market and is interested in importing grain. The demand price from Indonesia is USD260-265/t CIF. It is very profitable to export Ukrainian wheat to Indonesia. The fly in the ointment for these plans is the conflict in the Red Sea, where there is a high risk of shelling of the merchant fleet. This is still a systemic problem that negatively affects trade in the Black and Mediterranean Seas. The risk is holding back Ukrainian traders from fixing their positions in this direction. The market expects that in the second half of March, the passage of ships through the Red Sea may stop completely. A logistical solution would be to detour ships by sea through Africa, but this will raise the cost of freight by USD10-12 per ton,” was mentioned by the FUAC.
Ukrainian wheat continues to be the cheapest on most markets.
“Last week, Ukraine sold wheat with a protein content of 12.5% to Egypt at USD224 per ton for delivery to Egypt. For comparison, Russian wheat cost USD245 on an FOB basis. Ukrainian wheat is very cheap compared to other grains in the EU, Egypt and Turkey. The trade tries to keep prices low so that it makes sense to trade on many bases. Price gaps are large, which keeps the CPT market at low levels. Nevertheless, there are more and more sellers of wheat on FOB basis, many farmers are willing to sell for USD195 per ton at the Danube ports. At the same time, on CPT terms, wheat costs USD175-188 per ton, and by the end of the week, the price tags may lose another USD2 per ton,” added the analytical department of the FUAC.
A dry cargo ship with more than 71,000 tons of wheat left a Ukrainian port on Thursday, the Joint Coordination Center (JCC) reported.
“On December 15, the vessel Star Emerald left the port of Pivdenniy, it is carrying a total of 71,400 tons of wheat to Indonesia as part of the Black Sea Grain Initiative,” the report said.
Two dry-cargo ships Sea Bridle and Tuo Fu 8, which passed through the sea humanitarian corridor on December 15, are heading to Ukrainian ports.
69 vessels capable of exporting about 2.5 million tons of food are awaiting permission to enter Ukrainian ports, while 21 loaded vessels are preparing to be inspected to proceed further to their destinations.
“As of December 15, the total tonnage of grain and other agricultural products exported from the three Ukrainian ports is 13,990,897 tons. A total of 1,106 vessels have been allowed to move so far: 551 to arrive at Ukrainian ports and 555 to leave them,” the JCC summarized.
The Cabinet of Ministers has approved an agreement between the governments of Ukraine and Indonesia on the mutual abolition of visa requirements.
As the representative of the Cabinet of Ministers in the Verkhovna Rada Taras Melnychuk said in the Telegram channel, the corresponding decision was made at a government meeting on Friday.
In particular, an agreement was signed between the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and the Government of the Republic of Indonesia on the mutual abolition of visa requirements.
The agreement provides for the possibility for citizens of the states of the contracting parties using valid passports to travel abroad to enter, transit and stay in the territory of the state of the other party without visas for a period of: up to 30 days during each visit of Ukrainian citizens to Indonesia; up to 30 days within 60 days for trips of citizens of the Republic of Indonesia to Ukraine.
President of the Republic of Indonesia Joko Widodo announced that he had gone to Kyiv.
“From platform 4 of the Przemysl Glavny station in Przemysl, Poland, at 9 pm, I and a limited group of people went by train to Kyiv, Ukraine. We started this peaceful mission with good intentions. I hope it gets easier,” he wrote on Twitter .
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky received an invitation to participate in the G-20 summit.
“Thank you for the invitation to the G-20 summit,” he tweeted after a phone call with Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Wednesday.
“I thanked for the support of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, in particular, for a clear position in the UN. Food security issues were discussed,” he also wrote.
The G-20 summit will take place in autumn 2022 in Indonesia.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, by his decrees, has appointed ambassadors of Ukraine to the Republic of Indonesia, the Republic of Austria and the United Republic of Tanzania.
Relevant decrees No. 335/2021, No. 337/2021 and No. 338/2021 are published on the president’s website.
So, according to the documents, Vasyl Ivanovych Hamianin was appointed the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to the Republic of Indonesia, Vasyl Vasyliovych Khymynets – the Ambassador of Ukraine to Austria.
Also, Andriy Ivanovych Pravednyk, the Ambassador of Ukraine to the Republic of Kenya, was also appointed the Ambassador of Ukraine to the United Republic of Tanzania.
Vasyl Hamianin is a Ukrainian diplomat and sinologist. Since 2011, he has been serving as the Minister-Counselor of the Ukrainian Embassy in the People’s Republic of China. In 2012-2013 – the Charge d’Affaires of Ukraine in the People’s Republic of China.
Vasyl Khymynets is the Director of the First European Directorate General at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine. In 2011-2012 and in 2014 – the Chargé d’Affaires of Ukraine in Germany.
Andriy Pravednyk has been serving as the Ambassador of Ukraine to Kenya since September 2018.
