Ukraine's grain exports in February: despite the sabotage, 2.7 million tons were exported

Despite obstacles in the form of delays in the passage of ships through grain corridors, Ukraine was able to export 2.7 million tons of grain in February.

According to the State Customs Service, as of February 15, 2023, Ukraine exported 29.678 million tons of grain and leguminous crops since the beginning of the current 2022/23 season, which is 41% less than in the same period last year, when 41.958 million tons were exported. In the first half of February this year, 2.707 million tons of grain were exported, which is 29% less than in the first half of February 2022, when 3.488 million tons were exported.

In terms of crops, since the beginning of the current season, the following were exported:

• wheat - 10.548 million tons (813 thousand tons in February);
• barley - 1.958 million tons (141 thousand tons);
• rye - 14.9 thousand tons (2.2 thousand tons);
• corn - 17.06 million tons (1.745 million tons).

On February 15, the export volume of Ukrainian flour amounted to 91.1 thousand tons (in February - 8.7 thousand tons), including wheat flour - 87.2 thousand tons (8.6 thousand tons).

Traders are making every effort to have time to ship the purchased volumes by March 19, and do not plan to load ships after March 15, as they do not count on the continuation of the grain corridor due to the rhetoric from the Russian Federation, which is allegedly withdrawing from the grain agreement. Yesterday, the Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine, the Minister of Community Development, Territories and Infrastructure Oleksandr Kubrakov and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba called on international partners to demand from the Russian Federation an immediate end to artificial delays in the work of the "grain corridor".

The statement emphasizes that the representatives of the Russian Federation, who are part of the inspection teams at the joint coordination center in Istanbul, are deliberately delaying the inspection of vessels passing through the Bosphorus to or from Ukrainian ports. As a result, less than half of the 10 daily inspections are carried out, resulting in a queue of more than 140 vessels, most of which have been waiting for more than a month.

Meanwhile, Russia is destroying Ukraine's port infrastructure, creating security threats to Ukraine's southern regions from the Black Sea, and disrupting the Black Sea Grain Corridor, while the Russian Federation will take advantage of free merchant shipping from Russian Black Sea ports. In 2022, the volume of transportation through Russian seaports in the Azov-Black Sea basin amounted to more than 250 million tons, which is more than in 2021. At the same time, inspection of these ships in the Bosphorus is not carried out.

At a press conference in Geneva on February 15, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Martin Griffiths responded to the appeal of Ukrainian ministers and stated that the implementation of the grain agreement should be extended after March 19, when it expires. He expressed confidence that this will be done to ensure international humanitarian security.