In January 2023, Ukraine shipped 5.5 million tons of grains, oilseeds and their products. This is 1.3 million tons less than in December 2022. This downward trend is caused by the artificial blocking of the grain corridor by russian inspectors. As a result, only 3 million tons were shipped in the first month of the year as part of the grain initiative. In September-October, exports of agricultural products through the grain corridor in the framework of the grain initiative amounted to about 4 million tons and over 4 million tons, respectively.
In January, compared to December, Ukraine reduced the export of agricultural products by 24% to 5.5 million tons, in particular, corn - by 27% to 2.6 million tons, wheat - by 19% to 1.3 million tons, as a result of deliberate blocking by Russian inspectors inspection of ships and the lack of energy supply in the Black Sea ports during the last 10 days due to shelling of the energy infrastructure of Odesa.
Against this background, the purchase prices for corn in the Black Sea ports fell from $210-212/t to $200-205/t, as the additional costs of traders for idleness of vessels waiting in inspection queues rose to $30-40/t.
Mykola Solskyi, Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine, held an online working meeting with Mark Steven Spencer, Minister of State at the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
During the meeting, the parties discussed the urgent problems of the Ukrainian agricultural sector and financial support for Ukrainian farmers.
Amid the war, the EU has become Ukraine’s main trading partner, accounting for more than 55% of mutual trade. Now it is important for us to maintain the pace of trade development and extend autonomous trade measures in the form of complete elimination of duties, as well as to extend agreements on road transport permits. This was emphasized by Yuliia Svyrydenko, First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy of Ukraine, at the EU-Ukraine Summit.
As of February 2, 2023, grain and leguminous crops were harvested on an area of 11.1 million hectares (97%) with a yield of 4.79 t/ha, 53.2 million tons of grain were threshed, including:
The Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine Mykola Solskyi called on EU representatives to support Ukrainian farmers and facilitate the spring sowing campaign. He stated this during his speech at a joint meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and the European Commission College, which was held in Kyiv for the first time.
Ukraine plans to make significant progress in its integration into the EU's internal market and to maintain duty-free trade with the European Union until the end of 2024.
These issues were among the topics of discussion during the meeting of Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal and Minister of Finance Sergii Marchenko with Executive Vice-President of the European Commission Valdis Dombrovskis.
World wheat prices rose after Germany and other countries announced their intention to supply main battle tanks to Ukraine on January 25.
Agrarheute writes about this with reference to data from the British Agricultural and Horticultural Development Board (AHDB).
Romania and five other EU states want compensation for the damage they suffered due to the fact that cheap wheat from Ukraine, left on European territory, is affecting their own sales. They ask the European Commission for a quick solution and the export of Ukrainian wheat to its final destination, namely Africa.
The Black Sea Grain Initiative is not blocked, work is underway to continue it, UN system coordinator in Ukraine Denise Brown said.