Seven more ships carrying corn and wheat left the ports of Ukraine on Tuesday, the Anadolu agency reports, citing the Turkish Defense Ministry.
The export of agricultural products from three Ukrainian ports continues under the agreement on the corridor for grain, concluded on July 22.
Earlier, the UN reported that the Joint Coordinating Center (JCC) allowed seven vessels with corn and wheat to leave the ports of Ukraine on Tuesday as part of the Black Sea Grain Initiative. According to the UN, the ships Captain Dimitrios (65 thousand tons of corn), Super Saka (29 thousand tons of wheat and 21 thousand tons of corn), Fanaria (18 thousand tons of wheat) will go to Spain. The ships Propus (8.5 thousand tons of corn), Ata Ocean (6.3 thousand tons of sunflower oil) and Greifswald (492 tons of corn) are planning to head to Turkey. In addition, the Yada Team ship will deliver 64,951 tons of corn to Israel.
In Istanbul on July 22, with the participation of the UN, Ukraine, Turkey and Russia, two documents were signed on the creation of a corridor for the export of grain from three Ukrainian ports: Chernomorsk, Odessa and Yuzhny.
Prometey grain trader signed an export contract for the supply of 25,000 tons of food wheat from the Chornomorsk seaport in mid-September, the passage of the vessel became possible due to the deblockade of Ukrainian ports under the Istanbul grain agreements.
“In accordance with the contract, to load agricultural products, the bulk carrier will arrive in the territorial waters of Ukraine in 2-3 weeks. After the inspection, the dry cargo ship will follow from the port of Chornomorsk to its destination in mid-September,” the group of companies said in a press release on Monday.
“Prometey” emphasized that the conclusion of this contract gives the holding a reason to raise the minimum export bar at the level of 70-80 thousand tons of agricultural products per month.
The grain trader also clarified that it would take months to send a comparable amount of cargo by rail or road.
“This is already a victory on the front of global food security, in the structure of which Ukrainian grain trading companies play an important role. Another important component of the launch of the “grain corridor” is the trend towards improving the situation on the domestic agricultural market,” Prometey summed up in a press release. .
Prometey Group of Companies provides services for the storage, processing and logistics of grain and leguminous crops based on 33 elevators with a total storage capacity of 1.7 million tons.
At the end of 2021, the group of companies planned to receive $45 million in EBITDA, while in 2020 this figure reached $32.6 million, and in 2019 – $30.5 million.
The United States of America will provide the UN World Food Program (WFP) with $68 million to buy wheat in Ukraine and then send it to countries most vulnerable in terms of food security, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said.
“The United States will contribute $68 million to the World Food Program to purchase Ukrainian wheat to address the acute global food crisis. We are committed to maintaining global food security for the most vulnerable and urge all countries to follow suit,” Blinken said on Twitter on Wednesday.
As reported, on June 28, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine approved a draft agreement with WFP on the resumption of the work of its office in the country, which will allow the organization, among other things, to purchase agricultural products from Ukrainian companies for the implementation of international humanitarian programs.
WFP is expected to participate in the purchase of agricultural and food products from Ukrainian companies for the needs of UN international humanitarian projects.
Ukraine plans to harvest up to 20 million tons of wheat, which is five times more than domestic demand, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said.
“Yesterday, the first ship with Ukrainian food left the port of Odessa… Firstly, this makes it possible to increase foreign exchange earnings and business income. Not only in the agricultural sector, which employs hundreds of thousands of people, but also in related industries. The second aspect: Ukraine remains important player in the global food market,” he said at a government meeting on Tuesday.
The prime minister stressed that the unblocking of exports is also directly related to the new crop, which is now being harvested by Ukrainian farmers.
“As of the end of July, about 12 million tons have already been harvested. At the same time, we expect to harvest up to 20 million tons of wheat alone, which is five times more than domestic demand. Therefore, it is important for us to help farmers preserve and sell the new crop,” Shmyhal summed up.