Ukrainian food exports have fallen by almost half since the start of the war

Ukraine’s exports of agricultural staples have almost halved since Russia’s invasion of the country earlier this year, compared to the same period in 2021, according to Ukrainian agriculture ministry data released late Monday. night.

Tomorrow, Wednesday, marks six months since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which Moscow describes as a “special military operation”. Due to the conflicts, Ukrainian ports on the Black Sea were blockaded, and much of the harvest was not harvested or destroyed.

Exports of agricultural products between February 24 and August 15 this year fell to 10 million tonnes from about 19.5 million in the same period last year, Ukrainian ministry data show.

Ukraine’s 2022 grain crop is also forecast to fall to around 50 million tonnes from a record 86 million tonnes in 2021.

From February 24 to August 15 this year, Ukraine has exported 3.8 million tons of corn, 1.4 million tons of sunflower seeds, nearly 1 million tons of sunflower oil and about 640,000 tons of wheat, according to ministry data.

Ukraine, whose food production can, according to the government, feed up to 400 million people, also exported barley, soybeans and soybean oil, sunflowers and soybean meal.

At the end of July came the blockade of three Ukrainian ports on the Black Sea based on an agreement between Moscow and Kyiv brokered by the UN and Turkey.

However, even after the opening of the ports, Ukraine’s agricultural exports are significantly lower than before the war, when the country exported up to 6 million tons of grain a month.

Last week the agriculture ministry announced that grain exports for the 2022/23 season had fallen by 51.6% to 2.99 million tonnes as of August 19 from a year earlier.

Grain exports for the 2021/22 season, which ended on June 30, by contrast rose 8.5 percent to 48.5 million tonnes, thanks to a large export volume before Russia invaded Ukraine.

SOURCE: AMPE