In a move that will be warmly welcomed by pig producers in the UK and, indeed, across the world, a deal allowing Ukraine to continue exporting grain through the Black Sea has been extended.
This is the third such deal to be agreed between Russia and Ukraine, again brokered by the UN and Turkey, although the timescale remains unclear.
Ukraine is pushing for 120 days, but Russia calling for 60 days, warning it will not allow the deal to go on for longer unless sanctions against Moscow are softened. Vassily Nebenzia, Russia’s ambassador to the UN, said on Friday that the EU, UK and US had two months to remove any sanctions targeting Russia’s agricultural sector if they wanted the deal to continue, the BBC reported.
Moscow wants Russian producers to be able to export more food and fertiliser to the rest of the world, but says Western sanctions are preventing them.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced an agreement on extending the deal on Saturday, with hours to go before it was due to expire. “This deal is of vital importance for the global food supply. I thank Russia and Ukraine, who didn’t spare their efforts for a new extension, as well as the United Nations secretary general,” he said.
Ukraine is one of the world’s top producers of grain, but its access to ports in the Black Sea was blocked by Russian warships following the invasion in February last year, contributing to a massive rise in wheat prices, which hit £350/tonne last May.
This is the third deal to be agreed. The first grain shipments started in early August and, according to the UN’s Joint Coordination Centre, more than 800 ships and 23Mt of grains, foodstuffs and fertiliser have left the three Ukraine ports of Odesa, Chornomorsk and Yuzhny/Pivdennyi, feed market analyst Phil Baynes said.Â
Cereal prices softened last week in anticipation of a deal and today, AHDB is quoting feed wheat for March at £206.50/t and for May at £208.50/t.