In the ports of Chornomorsk, Odessa and Pivdenny, 10 vessels are ready to be loaded as part of the “grain initiative”, more than 40 applications are expected to call at Ukrainian ports, Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine Oleksandr Kubrakov said on his Facebook page in Friday.
According to the Minister of Infrastructure, work is underway to ensure that the volumes and rates of transshipment of agricultural products increase to 3-5 million tons per month.
Kubrakov noted that during the operation of the “grain initiative” 25 ships were sent from the three ports of the Odessa region, with a total of 630 thousand tons of agricultural products on board.
“We pay special attention to food exports for African countries. Another bulk carrier I Maria left yesterday, carrying 33,000 tons of agricultural products for the north of the continent,” he said.
As reported, in Istanbul on July 22, with the participation of the UN, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine, two documents were signed on the creation of a corridor for the export of grain and other agricultural products from three Ukrainian ports: Chornomorsk, Odessa and Pivdenny.
UN Secretary General António Guterres, who signed this document on July 22, visits the port of Odessa on Friday, accompanied by Kubrakov.
It is expected that on the same day, also in Odessa, the negotiations of the UN Secretary General with the Presidents of Ukraine and Turkey Volodymyr Zelensky and Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the issue of “grain corridors” for the export of Ukrainian agricultural products will continue.
By August 19, Ukrainian farmers harvested 23.4 million tonnes of grain and leguminous crops (2.6 million tonnes more during the week of August 12 through August 19) from a total area of 6.1 million hectares (0.6 million hectares more), the Ministry of Agricultural Policy and Food reported on its website on Friday.
The crop was harvested from 55% of the planned areas, while a week earlier this figure was 49%.
“The harvest of 2022 continues. According to the latest data, 91% of wheat, 96% of barley, 97% of peas, and 98% of winter rapeseed have been harvested. The leaders in harvesting are Mykolaiv region – 86%, Odesa region – 85%, Volyn and Dnipropetrovsk regions – 70% each, Kirovohrad – 60%,” the ministry said in a statement.
In general, 17.4 million tonnes of wheat (2.0 million tonnes more in a week) were harvested from 4.3 million hectares (0.5 million hectares more), 5.3 million tonnes of barley (0.4 million tonnes more) from 1.5 million hectares (0.1 million hectares more) and 243,700 tonnes of peas (4,700 tonnes more) from 108,000 hectares (2,000 hectares more). Also this week, harvesting of millet has begun, of which 7,700 tonnes have been harvested from 3,200 thousand hectares.
In addition, by August 19, Ukraine harvested 3.1 million tonnes of winter rapeseed (0.2 million tonnes more in a week) from 1.08 million hectares (40,000 hectares more).
According to the ministry, the average yield of wheat was 40.4 tonnes per ha, barley – 3.45 tonnes per ha, rapeseed – 2.84 tonnes per ha, millet – 2.39 tonnes per ha, peas – 2.26 tonnes per ha. At the same time, the highest average yield of grain and leguminous crops was recorded in Khmelnytsky region – 6.2 tonnes per ha.
By August 19, Ukrainian farmers harvested 23.4 million tons of grain and leguminous crops (+2.6 million tons for the week of August 12-19) from a total area of 6.1 million hectares (+0.6 million hectares), reported on the website of the Ministry of Agricultural Policy and Food on Friday.
It is specified that the crop was harvested from 55% of the planned areas, while a week earlier this figure was 49%.
“The harvest of 2022 continues. According to the latest data, 91% of wheat, 96% of barley, 97% of peas, and 98% of winter rapeseed have been harvested. The leaders in harvesting are Mykolaiv region – 86%, Odessa region – 85%, Volyn and Dnepropetrovsk regions – 70% each, Kirovogradskaya – 60%,” the ministry said in a statement.
In general, 17.4 million tons of wheat (+2.0 million tons per week) were harvested from 4.3 million hectares (+0.5 million hectares), 5.3 million tons of barley (+0.4 million tons) from 1 .5 million hectares (+0.1 million hectares) and 243.7 thousand tons of peas (+4.7 thousand tons) from 108 thousand hectares (+2 thousand hectares). Also this week, harvesting of millet has begun, of which 7.7 thousand tons have been harvested from 3.2 thousand hectares.
In addition, by August 19, Ukraine harvested 3.1 million tons of winter rapeseed (+0.2 million tons per week) from 1.08 million hectares (+40 thousand hectares).
According to the ministry, the average yield of wheat was 40.4 q/ha, barley – 34.5 q/ha, rapeseed – 28.4 q/ha, millet – 23.9 q/ha, peas – 22.6 q/ha. At the same time, the highest average yield of grain and leguminous crops was recorded in the Khmelnytsky region – 62 c/ha.
In turn, the agricultural producers of the Dnepropetrovsk, Kirovohrad and Odessa regions harvested over 2 million tons of grain, and Vinnitsa, Volyn, Kyiv, Mykolaiv, Poltava, Ternopil, Khmelnytsky and Cherkasy regions – more than 1 million tons of crops each.
As reported, in 2021 Ukraine harvested a record harvest of grains, legumes and oilseeds in the amount of 106 million tons: grains and legumes – UAH 84 million, oilseeds – 22.6 million tons.
In general, 32.4 million tons of wheat, 40 million tons of corn, 10 million tons of barley, 581.5 thousand tons of peas, 191 thousand tons of millet, 110 thousand tons of buckwheat were harvested last year. Sunflower harvest amounted to 16.3 million tons, soybeans – 3.4 million tons, rapeseed – 2.9 million tons.
Since the beginning of the 2022/2023 marketing year (MR, July-June), Ukraine has exported 2.98 million tons of grain crops, including 1.94 million tons of corn (65% of the total supply), 783 thousand tons of wheat ( 26%) and 257 thousand tons of barley (8.8%).
As reported on the website of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food on Friday, the pace of grain exports since the beginning of the current financial year was 2.06 times lower than the indicators of the same period last year (from July 1 to August 19, 2021, 6.12 million tons were exported) .
At the same time, according to the agency, for the period of August 11-19, 770 thousand tons of grain crops were delivered to foreign markets (96.2 thousand tons per day), while in the previous period of August 5-11 – 340 thousand tons of grain crops ( 48.6 thousand tons per day), for July 27-August 5 – 640 thousand tons of grain crops (71.1 thousand tons per day), and for July 15-27 – 627 thousand tons of grain crops (52.25 thousand tons per day). Thus, the average daily rate of export for the reporting period doubled compared to the previous period and reached the maximum value since the beginning of the MR.
For comparison, in eight days (August 11-19), the country supplied the volume of grain crops to foreign markets, similar to the volume of 28 days in April (April 1-28, 2022), when their export amounted to 763,000 tons. This is due to the effect of the Istanbul grain agreements, which opened the export of agricultural crops from three Ukrainian seaports – only on August 1-15, they sent 21 dry cargo ships with 563 thousand tons of agricultural products to foreign markets.
In general, from the beginning of the 2022/2023 FY and until August 19, 2022, Ukraine exported 783 thousand tons of wheat (3.7 times less compared to the same date of the 2021/2022 FY), 257 thousand tons of barley (eight times less) and 7.4 thousand tons of flour (2.55 times less). However, the rate of corn export exceeded last year’s volumes – 1.94 million tons of corn were exported, which is 67.8% more than the indicators of the 2021/2022 financial year.
As reported, in 2021/2022, Ukraine exported 48.51 million tons of grain and leguminous crops, which is 8.4% higher than the indicators of the previous MR, despite the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation and difficulties in exporting agricultural products due to the blockade of Ukrainian seaports. 18.74 million tons of wheat (12.6% more than the indicators of 2020/2021 MR), 23.54 million tons of corn (+1.9%), 5.75 million tons of barley (+35.9%) were delivered to foreign markets ), 70.9 thousand tons of flour (-44.1%).
In 2020/2021, 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 flour tons of rye.
In 2019/2020, the Republic of Ukraine exported 56.72 million tons of grain and leguminous crops.
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.
