Black Sea Grain Initiative at a "dead end", Russia affirms it cannot find a reason to extend, why?

Russia said on June 30 that it saw no reason to extend a Black Sea grain deal beyond July 17 because the West had acted "excessively" towards the deal, but assured that Russian grain exports to poor countries would continue.

'Số phận' bấp bênh của Sáng kiến ngũ cốc Biển Đen, Nga không có lý do gì để gia hạn thỏa thuận

Commercial vessels under the Black Sea Grain Initiative wait off the coast of Türkiye early on October 31, 2022. (Source: Reuters)

The United Nations and Türkiye brokered the Black Sea Grains Initiative in July 2022 to help prevent the global food crisis from worsening due to the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the blockade of Ukraine's Black Sea ports.

The agreement allows food and fertilizers to be exported from three Ukrainian ports: Chornomorsk, Odesa and Pivdennyi (Yuzhny). The agreement has been extended three times.

On the same day, the United Nations expressed concern that no new ships had been cleared under the Black Sea agreement since June 26 - despite 29 applications - and called on all parties to "commit to continuing and effectively implementing the agreement without further delay".

UN spokesman Farhan Haq said that currently only 13 ships are loading cargo at Ukrainian ports or are moving to/from Istanbul (Türkiye).

Russia and Ukraine are two of the world’s leading agricultural producers and are major players in the markets for wheat, barley, corn, rapeseed, rapeseed oil, sunflower seeds and sunflower oil. Russia also dominates the fertilizer market.

According to the United Nations, during 2018–2020, Africa imported $3.7 billion worth of wheat (32% of Africa's total wheat imports) from Russia and $1.4 billion (12% of Africa's total wheat imports) from Ukraine.

To persuade Russia to agree to the initiative, a treaty was also signed last July in which the UN agreed to help Russia overcome barriers to its food and fertilizer exports. Russia’s specific demands were for the Russian Agricultural Bank (Rosselkhozbank) to reconnect to the international payment system (SWIFT), the resumption of supplies of agricultural machinery and production equipment to Russia, and the lifting of restrictions on insurance and reinsurance.

Other demands include resuming the Togliatti-Odesa ammonia pipeline, allowing Russia to pump chemicals to Ukraine's Black Sea port, and lifting asset and account freezes on Russian companies involved in food and fertilizer exports.

However, Russia said there has been no progress on any of those requests.

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