Last week, 18 vessels exported 664,000 tons of food from the ports of Greater Odesa as part of the Grain Initiative. This is one-third less than the volume of exports the week before last, the Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine reports on Facebook.
According to the report, 60,000 tons of wheat were shipped to Kenya, 56,000 tons to Bangladesh, and 60,000 tons of Ukrainian oil to India.
"The rate of vessels leaving ports remains critically low - 2.5 vessels per day. This is the figure we had at the beginning of the Grain Initiative when export volumes were insignificant. At the same time, the number of vessels that are being inspected in the Bosphorus and are allowed to move to Ukrainian ports for loading also does not exceed 3 vessels per day," the statement said.
The Ministry of Infrastructure emphasizes that in the Bosphorus, the Russian side in the Joint Coordination Centre continues to block the implementation of the initiative and artificially increase the queue of ships.
As of 30 January, 117 vessels are awaiting inspection in Turkish territorial waters (92 are heading to ports for loading, and 25 are already carrying agricultural products). Last week, only 20 inspections took place against the minimum required 84.
The registration of ships to participate in the initiative is also hampered: out of more than 80 ships declared daily, Russians register only 2-3 vessels on average without explanation.
These factors are slowing down the implementation of the Grain Initiative: we are observing a decline in exports by almost 30% compared to the previous month, which means that the world is not receiving the right amount of agricultural products. The vast majority of countries receive it with enormous time delays due to the downtime of ships in the Bosporus.
"We are waiting for the reaction of our partners in the Grain Agreement - Turkey and the UN. Currently, 21 vessels are being handled in the ports of Greater Odesa. They are loading almost 1 million tons of Ukrainian agricultural products. Only 3 vessels are moving along the 'grain corridor' for loading," the Ministry said.
Since 1 August, 687 vessels have left the ports of Greater Odesa, exporting 18.9 million tons of Ukrainian food to Asia, Europe, and Africa. With the stable functioning of the grain corridor, this figure should have been more than 28 million tons.