Global Courant 2023-05-21 15:27:56
ISTANBUL
According to the World Food Program (WFP), the Black Sea grain agreement, which expires on May 18 but has been extended by two months, is important for keeping the global food supply flowing and stabilizing markets for all customers.
“We don’t see prices rising again and hitting the poor the hardest,” the UN agency told Anadolu.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan confirmed the extension of the agreement earlier this week, after talks with Kiev and Moscow.
Turkey, the UN, Russia and Ukraine signed the first agreement in Istanbul last July to resume grain exports from Ukraine’s three Black Sea ports, which were halted after the Russia-Ukraine war that started in February 2022.
A Joint Coordination Center consisting of officials from the three countries and the UN was established in Istanbul to supervise the shipments.
Under the agreement, more than 30 million tons of grain were transported by more than 950 ships.
Russia aims to increase grain exports by blocking Ukraine
Eren Günhan Ulusoy, Director of the International Operative Millers Association of Eurasia, said that the continuation of the agreement is important for the uninterrupted operation of the global food supply chains, especially for the countries in need.
He said that 787 million tons of grain production and 794 million tons of consumption are expected in the world for the 2023-24 season.
Adding that Ukraine delivers 30.2 million tons of grain to the world through the grain corridor, the official underlined that the importance of the route will only increase in August-September.
Ulusoy said, “The grain corridor has been extended 3 times so far,” and noted that in the last extension, Russia insisted on adding only 60 days to the period.
“Each extension aggravates the conditions of the corridor, as Russia’s demands for facilitating grain exports are not met and it wants to increase its exports to Russia and world markets, which saw high wheat production last season.”
At this point, Russia wanted to prevent competition with Ukraine by closing or slowing down the corridor, but it is very positive news for the whole world that Turkey continues with its efforts and mediation.
Russia wants to stop the fall in wheat prices
Haluk Tezcan, President of the Turkish Flour Industrialists’ Federation (TUSAF), said that the country’s efforts are important for the rest of the world, especially for countries that have difficulties in accessing basic food products.
Citing the coronavirus pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war, he said such problems are causing food price fluctuations and inflation.
With the grain corridor, a serious advantage was achieved in terms of product accessibility and price, and the price of reaching bread in both underdeveloped and developed countries decreased.
Tezcan emphasized that Russia sees wheat as a strategic product and wants to keep the prices at a certain level as in the case of oil, thus preventing the price from falling significantly.
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