The grain agreement with Russia can be extended within the G20 summit

Ukraine expects the finalization of the negotiations on the continuation of the “grain agreement”, or even its signing, within the framework of the G20 summit, which begins its work today and will last for two days. A source in the government informed AgroPolit.com about this. We will remind that during the validity of the agreement, Ukraine exported 10 million tons of agricultural products by sea.

According to the interlocutor, the Ukrainian official delegation and in general President Volodymyr Zelenskyi himself (will speak online) are determined to raise the grain issue at the G20 summit before the signatories of the agreement, because the agreement expires on November 19.

Today, during his speech at the G20 summit, Zelenskyy called on the world to make the “grain agreement” open-ended and expand the grain export initiative to the Mykolaiv and Olvia ports in the Mykolaiv region.

The extension of the agreement is expected to be signed by Minister of Infrastructure Oleksandr Kubrakov.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will not be at the summit, instead of him will be Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Russia itself is constantly “trading” the grain issue and is trying to push through its version of the agreement, which is currently unsuccessful.

The ground for signing the agreement is also being prepared by its participant. The other day, Turkish President Recep Tayyip proposed to remove the time limits for the “grain corridor”.

Yesterday, the foreign ministers of the EU, the US, Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Josep Borrell, Anthony Blinken and James Cleverley, issued a joint statement on global food security and sanctions against Russia, in which they called on countries to support the Black Sea Grain Initiative by extending its validity and expanding its scope activity

We urge the parties to the initiative to extend its validity and expand the scope of their activities to meet the obvious demand. And we reaffirm our support for other United Nations efforts to facilitate access to food and fertilizers on global markets,” the ministers concluded, the statement released Monday in Brussels.

On the air of the FREEDOM TV channel, the president of the Ukrainian Grain Association, Mykola Gorbachev, gave his forecast for the agricultural sector in the event of the extension of the agreement.

If they sign up for a year, then farmers can increase the sown area for corn, and then Ukraine will be able to supply more. If Ukraine supplies only by alternative routes, not through the sea, then we will not supply more than 30-35 million tons per year. Our internal consumption is about 20 million. Thus, our total harvest will be in the optimal size somewhere around 55-58 million. Let me remind you that last year we grew 107. That is, we will reduce production by almost half only because farmers will not have access to infrastructure and will not be able to sell this product. Therefore, they will not sow it. Therefore, we definitely need export traction. We definitely need an export initiative. We need our ports, including Mykolaiv,” he said.

We will remind that the agreement on the unblocking of Ukrainian ports for the export of grain was signed in July in Istanbul by representatives of Turkey, the UN and Ukraine. A similar endorsement of the document took place on the part of Turkey, the UN and Russia.

Tags: grain, Ukraine, export