Negotiations on the grain corridor will be held on May 5, but there is no hope of their success

The deputy defense ministers of Ukraine, Turkey and the Russian Federation will meet in Istanbul on May 5 to discuss the "grain agreement", Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar announced.

He said that "a number of issues will be discussed at the meeting, including the grain initiative. Turkey hopes to continue the agreement, as it is very important for peace and stability in the region. We see that the parties are inclined to continue the agreement, and we wish that there will be no problems at the same time it did not arise."

However, yesterday's attack on the Kremlin by drones, allegedly organized by the Russian Federation itself to cancel the parade on May 9, may be the reason for the breakdown of the negotiations on the grain agreement.

In April, only 65 ships with food left the ports of Odesa through the grain corridor, which was the lowest monthly figure for the entire period of the grain initiative. This is due to a reduction in the passage of ships through the Bosphorus due to delays in inspections by Russian inspectors.

From August 1 to May 3, 929 vessels passed through the grain corridor, which exported almost 29.4 million tons of domestic agricultural products. Against the background of delays in inspections and disruption of shipment schedules for several months, there is a tendency to increase the volume of transportation of products by one vessel. If in August - November 2022 the average load per 1 vessel was 22.4-30.7 thousand tons, then in March it reached a maximum of 44.3 thousand tons.

In April, an average of 43,300 tons of products were loaded on one ship, which made it possible to export 2.8 million tons of food with the minimum number of ships. This is 53% of agricultural products exported from Ukraine in April (1-24 groups of TNZED).