Ukraine hopes for an automatic extension of the grain corridor after November 19

After the resumption of the grain corridor, the movement of vessels for loading to the Black Sea ports of Ukraine accelerated. So, on November 7, 7 ships arrived, on which 131,000 tons of products will be loaded, and on November 8 - 7 more ships. The Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine, O. Kubrakov, said that unblocking the movement of ships will allow to provide the world with Ukrainian products.

Currently, all four parties to the grain agreement take part in the inspection of the courts, but after the return of representatives of the Russian Federation to inspection, the speed of inspections has decreased significantly. With the required 25-30 inspections per day, an average of 12 are planned, but only 8-9 are actually carried out. Therefore, Ukraine insists on increasing the number of inspections.

Ukraine hopes to expand the grain agreement by including more ports and goods, as well as to extend its validity for at least a year, although there is no confirmation of this from the UN and Turkey yet.

According to the SCC data, as of November 7, 88 vessels are awaiting permission to enter the ports of Ukraine, and another 18 loaded vessels are awaiting inspection in the territorial waters of Turkey. In the absence of artificial delays, it would be possible to export at least 6 million tons of agricultural products every month through grain corridors. And as of November 7, 10.067 million tons of agricultural products were exported from three Ukrainian ports through grain corridors.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said that not all obstacles to the export of Russian grain and fertilizers have been removed yet, but Turkey and the UN are working to accelerate the pace of product deliveries from Russia within the grain agreement. According to the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the grain agreement, which expires on November 19, will be extended automatically, without re-signing, if all parties agree.

In Moscow, they continue to delay the decision regarding the continuation of the grain corridor, as they allegedly do not see progress in the implementation of the Russian part of the agreement. The authorities of the Russian Federation declare that by November 18 they will analyze all the factors that will influence the final decision, in particular, in terms of increasing the export of Russian products.

The President of Ukraine, V. Zelenskyi, yesterday told the US ambassador to the UN about the need to extend the grain export agreement, which unblocked three major ports of Ukraine. Ukraine is ready to be the guarantor of world food security, therefore the grain initiative should be continued, despite the wishes of the Russian Federation, Zelenskyy said.