Ukraine is exporting more grains today than it did during the period it had signed up to the United Nations-brokered Black Sea Grain Initiative, a pact that came to a halt last July.
According to Kyiv-based Spike Brokers, Ukraine exported 4.8m tons of food in December via its alternative Black Sea corridor which hugs its own coastline heading south close to the Romanian shoreline. December’s figure was 600,000 tons higher than the highest amount shipped during the brief period of the Black Sea Grain Initiative.
Prior to Russia’s invasion in February 2022 Ukraine exported about 6m tons of food per month via the Black Sea.
Romania’s Black Sea port of Constanta is groaning at the seams, having recorded its highest grain exports in 2023 thanks to a surge in shipments from Ukraine. The port, currently undergoing urgent expansion, shipped 36m tons of grain last year, up 50% from the previous year. Ukrainian grain accounted for roughly 40% of the total.
Despite the swelling volumes of Ukrainian exports, thanks to daring raids on the Russian navy in the Black Sea, a spokesperson for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Saviano Abreu, has warned that the current modus operandi is not sustainable in an interview with Ukrinform news agency.
“The problem with these alternatives [to the Black Sea Grain Initiative] is that they are still not sustainable or even predictable,” Abreu said.
The UN is looking for solutions to ensure safe shipping in the Black Sea, while littoral states, Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey are about to embark on a mine-sweeping exercise in the region.
