Ukraine is urgently seeking solutions as Russia’s blockade of Odesa ports chokes grain exports at the peak of the harvest, despite efforts to scale up alternative routes.

In the first 12 days of August, Ukraine exported only 590,000 tonnes of grain, about 30% of the needed volume, Agriculture Minister Taras Vysotskyi told journalists on Friday.

Russia's intensified attacks on Ukraine's port infrastructure and civilian vessels in the Black Sea have already had a significant impact on the country's agricultural export logistics. As security risks continue to escalate, foreign vessels have temporarily suspended calls at Ukrainian ports, creating serious challenges for the export of the new harvest.

Pavlo Koval, Director General of the Ukrainian Agribusiness Confederation (UAC), shared these assessments in an interview with Deutsche Welle.

Pavlo Koval, Director General of the Ukrainian Agribusiness Club (UAC), spoke on Ukrainian Radio about Europe's largest Field Days near Magdeburg, the emergence of a new technological model for European agriculture, the future transformation of the EU's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), and Ukraine's role in this process.

— You recently attended the Field Days in Germany. What made this event particularly significant?

These are the largest agricultural field demonstrations in Europe, held every two years, alternating between eastern and western Germany. This year's event took place near Magdeburg. For me, it was an opportunity to see firsthand how Europe is building a new model of agricultural production.

The war in Ukraine, the escalating conflict in the Middle East, and accelerating climate change are increasingly affecting global food security. Today's challenges demonstrate that the stability of the global food market depends not only on agricultural production but also on resilient logistics, reliable critical infrastructure, and effective international cooperation.

This was emphasized by Pavlo Koval, Director General of the Ukrainian Agrarian Confederation (UAC), commenting to GlobalWatch on the growing risks facing the global agricultural sector.

According to Koval, Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine marked a turning point for the global food supply system. The blockade of Ukraine's Black Sea ports in 2022 exposed the vulnerability of international food supply chains. The simultaneous surge in grain, energy, fertilizer, and transportation costs quickly affected markets across Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia.