Ukraine says it can export 3M tons of grain next month

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KYIV/ISTANBUL- Ukraine can export 3 million tons of grain from its ports in September and may in the future be able to export 4 million tonnes from them monthly, Deputy Infrastructure Minister Yuriy Vaskov said on Tuesday.

He said Ukraine had received applications for 30 ships to come to Ukraine in the next two weeks to export grain, while the total export volume so far was about 600,000 tons.

Ukraine’s grain exports have slumped since Russia invaded on Feb. 24 and blockaded Ukrainian Black Sea ports, but three Black Sea ports were unblocked last month under a deal between Moscow and Kyiv that made it possible to send hundreds of thousands of tons of Ukrainian grain to buyers.

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Moscow calls its action in Ukraine a “special military operation”.

Three Black Sea ports were unblocked last month under a deal between Moscow and Kyiv, brokered by the United Nations and Turkey, making it possible to send hundreds of thousands of tons of Ukrainian grain to buyers.

The ship Brave Commander has left the Ukrainian port of Pivdennyi, carrying the first cargo of humanitarian food aid bound for Africa from Ukraine since Russia’s invasion, RefinitivEikon data showed on Tuesday.

The Brave Commander, with 23,000 tons of wheat aboard, left for Djibouti with supplies destined for consumers in Ethiopia, Ukraine’s infrastructure ministry said.

“The ministry and the United Nations are working on ways to increase food supplies for the socially vulnerable sections of the African population,” it said in a statement.

Turkey’s defense ministry said that five ships left Ukrainian ports on Tuesday carrying corn and wheat, three from Chornomorsk and two from Pivdennyi, bringing the total of ships to leave under the deal to 21.

Four more ships, bound for Ukraine, were to be inspected on Tuesday by the joint co-ordination center, set up by Russia, Turkey, Ukraine and the United Nations in Istanbul.

Despite unblocked ports, Ukraine’s grain exports are down 46 percent year on year at 2.65 million tonnes so far in the 2022/23 season, the agriculture ministry said.

Grain exports for the 2021/22 season ending June 30 rose 8.5 percent to 48.5 million tons, driven by strong shipments before Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24.

The ministry data showed that exports so far in 2022/23 included 1.75 million tons of corn, 658,000 tons of wheat and 226,000 tons of barley.

The overall volume includes 948,000 tons of grain exported in the first half of August.

Ukraine exported 1.88 million tons in the first 15 days of August 2021.

The government has said that Ukraine could harvest at least 50 million tonnes of grain this year, compared with a record 86 million tons in 2021, because of the loss of land to Russian forces and lower grain yields. — Reuters

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