Grain manipulation: the expert told how Moscow earns from idle ships with food

The specialist told about the tricks with the passage of ships under oil and selective inspection of Russians.

Moscow earns from idle ships with Ukrainian products in the Bosphorus. General Director of the Ukrainian Agrarian Confederation Pavlo Koval told about this at a briefing at the Ukraine Media Center Odesa.

He noted that the blocking of the "grain corridor" is an extremely important problem, since the lack of sale of the planned volumes of Ukrainian agricultural products, including for export, deprives the country of foreign exchange revenue, agricultural producers, traders, and processors do not receive income.

"From an economic point of view, it is very important that the grain corridors work rhythmically and even expand," the specialist emphasized.

He reminded that the "grain corridor" for the aggressor is one of the tools of the hybrid war. Blockages of ships in the Bosphorus have led to the fact that prices in the domestic market have a downward trend in the last 2–3 weeks. In particular, for meal, press cake, soybean oil, etc.

According to Koval, losing its traditional markets, Ukraine is giving them to someone else, for example, the same Russia that is waging war against us. Thus, the export of Russian wheat for 2022-2023 increased, and Ukrainian wheat - decreased.

The general director reminded that more than 90 ships are in the Bosphorus in a queue. At the same time, most of them are for the "entrance to the corridor" - to come to Ukrainian ports for loading.

Koval added that in the last three weeks there has been a clear trend towards a drop in shipments and the departure of ships from the three ports of Great Odesa - we are talking about thousands of tons of products.

He reminded that the Russian Federation has not officially withdrawn from the grain agreement, but it sets such conditions that the vessels are not inspected, are not sent with cargo, and do not go in for loading. Compared to January, there is a three-fold drop in technical capacity: two vessels per day currently - against seven in January.

Koval also told how the Russians are still manipulating, blocking the "grain agreement". According to him, there is a difference when dry cargoes (bulk carriers) and vessels for bulk cargoes (tankers) enter the ports, for example, for oil loading.

"They (the occupiers - ed.) understand: if they don't let in several 30,000-ton tankers to be loaded with sunflower oil, two or three sunflower processing plants in Ukraine may stop. And these products are much more expensive, with added value... If there are downtimes, then the price of sunflower seeds and oil begins to fall and people lose their jobs," the specialist explains.

For example, a processor bought sunflowers 10 days later in Ukraine, produced oil, but now, due to an artificially created queue, he cannot send these products for a month or two. First, the term of the contract with the recipient is interrupted. Secondly, he pays insane fines every day for a ship that is standing in a queue and will not reach its destination. Plus, during this time, the price of oil has changed, and the market is occupied by other players, the same as the Russian Federation. That is, such ship freight is unprofitable.

"Even after the restoration of the "corridor", the price of freight will increase. For comparison. Previously, transportation of a ton of wheat by rail from central Ukraine to Mykolaiv cost 20-22 dollars. Today, to bring such cargo from Cherkasy to Constanta, Romania, it is necessary to pay 195 dollars", - said Koval. He emphasizes that all of the above directly affects small and medium-sized businesses, the financial stability and capacity of the producer itself.

He emphasizes that the Russians monitor the market very carefully, because for them it is a powerful tool for waging war. In addition, their influence on the queue consists in the fact that they not only slow it down, but also in a certain way select the vessels that are passed for inspection in the first place. Usually, these are not the ones that Ukraine expects.

The briefing of the general director of the Ukrainian Agrarian Confederation at the Ukraine Media Center Odesa on May 12 can be viewed at the link: https://youtube.com/live/8MGeyPHFK4A?feature=share

IC UAC according to UNIAN