Over 14 million tons of grain have been exported from Ukraine under the Black Sea deal with Russia, easing global food prices, the United Nations said Thursday.
Rebeca Grynspan, head of the U.N.'s trade and development agency, UNCTAD, which helped broker the Black Sea Grain Initiative (BSGI), said it reduced world food prices for seven straight months.
"We have surpassed 14 million tons of food that has come out through the Black Sea Grain Initiative," Grynspan told reporters at the U.N. in Geneva.
"The volumes that we are talking about are very significant for the market."
Ukraine, one of the world's top grain producers, was invaded by neighboring Russia in February.
Two agreements brokered by the U.N. and Türkiye were signed on July 22.
The BSGI was concerned with the export of Ukrainian grain blocked by Russia's war. It was due to run out on Nov. 19 but was extended for another 120 days.
It has helped ease the global food crisis caused by the invasion.
The second agreement, between Moscow and the U.N., aimed to facilitate the export of Russian food and fertilizers, which are exempted from Western sanctions imposed on Moscow.
Exports down on 2021
Grynspan brushed off claims that grain exports from Ukraine were ending up in wealthy countries rather than developing ones.
The former vice president of Costa Rica said grain exports for livestock had to be differentiated from those intended for human consumption.
"Animal feed has never gone in the majority to developing countries: it is a more developed country import," she said.
"Two-thirds of wheat exports are going to developing countries," which have been "benefiting widely" from the Black Sea deal in terms of grain for human consumption.
But the UNCTAD chief acknowledged that grain export volumes remained below 2021 levels.
"We are not where we want to be," she said.
Grynspan is also concerned about a potential fertilizer crisis next year, saying the high price of fertilizer could cause an availability crisis in 2023.
She also said time was running out because the sowing season cannot be extended.
"That's why we are pressing so hard to solve this problem as soon as possible," she said.
Fertilizer crunch
Moscow has complained that the agreement exempting its fertilizers from sanctions, which is due to run for three years, is not being respected.
Grynspan voiced cautious optimism that progress could be made soon on Russian fertilizer exports but did not elaborate on the negotiations, saying there were still obstacles ahead.
As part of the U.N.'s efforts to combat global food insecurity through the agreements signed in July, the U.N.'s World Food Programme (WFP) is facilitating the shipment of 260,000 tons of fertilizer, which is being considered a humanitarian donation by the Russian firm Uralchem/Uralkali.
The fertilizer is stuck in ports in the Netherlands, Belgium, Estonia and Latvia, Grynspan said, adding that the four countries had agreed to its release.
The first boatload of 20,000 tons of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium (NPK) left from the Netherlands on a WFP-chartered vessel on Nov. 29, bound for Malawi via a port in Mozambique.
The shipment has not yet arrived, Grynspan said.
Experts have already inspected the fertilizers being held in Belgium, Estonia and Latvia, and the U.N. is awaiting authorization before it can send it to West Africa, she said, specifying that these exports would go through a program set up by the World Bank.