Ukraine said 12 ships carrying grain left its Black Sea ports on Monday, despite Russia’s withdrawal from a U.N.-backed deal that allowed the passage of 1 million tons of grain during the all-out invasion of Moscow.
The United Nations and Turkey, which brokered the so-called Black Sea Grain Initiative in July, agreed to resume shipments halted on Sunday. Russia’s decision on Saturday shook global markets, sending wheat prices higher.
On Monday, Oleksandr Kobrakov, Ukraine’s Minister of Infrastructure, said that “12 ships had left Ukrainian ports” and four more were heading towards the Ukrainian coast for loading.
The United Nations and Turkey delegations provided 10 inspection teams to inspect 40 ships with the aim of implementing the Black Sea Grains Initiative. The Ukrainian delegation approved this inspection plan. “The Russian delegation has been informed,” he wrote on Twitter.
It is not clear how Russia will respond to Monday’s shipments. Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin, questioned the feasibility of continuing offshore Ukrainian grain export shipments without Russia’s support.
“In the conditions in which Russia talks about the impossibility of ensuring the safety of navigation in these areas, such a deal is hardly feasible, and takes on a different character: more dangerous, dangerous and not guaranteed,” he was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying. .
Without clarifying whether Russia would try to stop such shipments, he said, “Contacts are continuing with the Turkish side, as well as with the United Nations through diplomatic and other circles.”
Insurers at Lloyd’s of London, which provides cover for grain and other foods shipped from Ukraine under the Black Sea agreement, said they would pause pricing for new shipments until a new deal was agreed.
The insurance that has already been issued is still in place, said Chris McGill, head of ocean freight underwriting at insurance company Ascot. “We hope that the negotiations will succeed and we can resume the quotation,” he added.
On Saturday, Russia announced its decision to suspend participation in the agreement, which included joint inspections of ships in Istanbul, after what it claimed was a Ukrainian raid on its naval vessels in Sevastopol, the Crimean port it annexed in 2014.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said he will try to salvage the deal. “Although Russia is reluctant on this issue because it did not come up as easily, we will decisively continue our efforts to serve humanity,” he said in a speech on Monday.
Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar told his Russian counterpart
On Monday, Sergei Shoigu said he expected Moscow to “reconsider.”
The decision to withdraw from the agreement because the grain initiative must
To remain separate from the dispute, according to a statement
Desk.
Turkey’s close ties with Kyiv and Moscow helped mediate
UN-backed agreement in july And more than 9 million tons of
Since then, Ukrainian wheat and corn have sailed across the Black Sea.
Chicago Board of Trade wheat futures rose 7.7 percent to $8.93 a bushel Monday morning and later traded 5.7 percent higher at $8.29 a bushel. Corn prices rose 3 percent to $7 a bushel.
Analysts had warned that Russia’s withdrawal from the deal would hurt poor countries, with the International Rescue Committee saying it would hurt poor countries. “Serious consequences” for food supply.
Under the agreement, Moscow guaranteed the safe passage of cargo ships carrying grain from previously besieged Black Sea ports. Ukrainian authorities said the suspension immediately affected 218 ships. Of these, 95 had already left its ports, 101 were waiting to be collected and 22 were loaded waiting to set sail.
The United Nations, Turkey and Ukraine, who has been working with Russia to transport grain through the Black Sea, told Moscow that 16 incoming and outgoing ships would move through the grain lane on Monday. The United Nations said some of these ships have sailed.
The Kremlin’s announcement on Saturday surprised grain traders and analysts who, while skeptical that the July deal would hold beyond the mid-November deadline, did not expect an abrupt termination.
Denis Voznesensky, an agricultural analyst at Rabobank, said the short-term effect of the Russian move was evident in higher prices, which could continue if the deal is not rescued.
Ukraine, long known as the breadbasket of Europe, is the world’s fifth largest wheat exporter. “If you are a Ukrainian farmer, you have no incentive to farm the longer it takes because the export market is over,” Voznesensky said.
Additional reporting by Robert Wright in London and Nick Fields in Sydney
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