Ukraine exported 3.8 million tonnes of agricultural products under the grain deal in March, 500,000 tonnes more than in February, the Agrarian Policy Ministry of Ukraine reported on March 31.
This included 908,000 tonnes of wheat and 2.3 million tonnes of corn.
The ministry said 374,000 tonnes of wheat, 120,000 tonnes more than in February, was shipped to countries in need, including 60,000 tonnes shipped to Yemen and Ethiopia under humanitarian programs.
At the same time, the Ministry of Agrarian Policy said that over the past three months of the functioning of the corridor, the number of vessels passing the Bosphorus has been steadily fluctuating in the range of less than 3 instead of 6-7 possible, and the worst figure was in January – 2.5.
“Today is the end of the 8th month of the grain corridor. The indicators for March differ little from February. In particular, the statistics of the number of ships passing per day have not changed for the better. We have an indicator of 2.8,” the ministry said.
A total of 26.3 million tonnes of Ukrainian agricultural products, including 7.3 million tonnes of wheat and 12.9 million tonnes of corn have been exported in the eight months since the agreement on the grain corridor for Ukrainian exports was struck, the ministry said. Almost 2 million tonnes or 26.4% of this wheat was shipped to countries in need, it added.
“However, there are countries where the supply of our grain has dipped due to the unpredictability of the functioning of the corridor and the unwillingness of buyers to take risks. Among them is Indonesia. If before the war we sent 2.6 million tonnes of wheat there, which was 24% of their annual needs of 11 million tonnes , then only 341,000 tonnes went there during the last marketing season, which is only 4%,” the Ministry of Agrarian Policy said.
The UN, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine signed two documents in Istanbul on July 22, 2022 on the creation of a corridor to ship out grain from three Ukrainian ports – Chornomorsk, Odesa and Pivdenny, as well as to lift barriers to exports of Russian foodstuffs and fertilizers. The arrangement was extended for 120 days in November 2022, and in March 2023 Russia agreed to another extension of 60 days.
