The US hopes to extend the Black Sea Grain Deal

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen expressed hope that the Black Sea grain export agreement on Ukrainian grain will continue. This agreement expires on 18 March this year.

During her February 27 visit to Kiev, Yellen said that the continuation of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which enables the delivery of grain from Ukraine to developing countries and provides for the improvement of food security in the world, “must happen as soon as possible.

In Washington the day before, Samantha Power, head of USAID, warned against overestimating the importance of the grain initiative because it does not work as effectively as it could.

“Now the Russian Federation is slow to inspect, Ukrainian farmers have harvested their crops, have grain that they seek to take to the open market, including – to very vulnerable countries where there is famine, like in Somalia. They’ve done their work, they’ve got the grain, but the mechanism doesn’t work as well as it could because the performance of the Black Sea Grain Initiative is much lower, and that’s because ships are idle in port much longer,” said Samantha Power, administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Assistance.

Instead of blocking grain exports, she said, the Russians have slowed the process so much that exports become unprofitable for farmers. Power recalled that it costs more than $20,000 a day for each ship to idle in port, waiting for the Russians’ delayed inspection.

“You know, the average time some ships are in port right now is about 20 days, so do the math. That’s the cost that the farmers who are trying to sell their goods will have to bear. So the resumption of the agreement is there, the permits are there, but it’s not just about resuming the slowdown, it’s about getting the export rate up to what it was before, for the sake of the Ukrainian economy, so they have domestic income, and also for the people in developing countries who can’t afford this de facto slowdown (of exports – ed.). Now we are not talking about a complete blockade, but on the open market goes a lot less than it could, if the political will,” – said Samantha Power.

The day before it became known that the volume of grain exported from Ukraine has decreased, and the number of inspections of vessels was halved than four months ago. According to the Joint Coordination Center in Istanbul, the export of food from the three Ukrainian ports declined from 3.7 million tons in December to 3 million tons of grain in January.

Russian state media reported that the Kremlin is trying to get guarantees from Western countries that Russian ammonia exports will be unhindered, and in return, that the Black Sea Grain Initiative will operate unhindered.

According to the UN, the original Black Sea Grain Agreement had a 120-day term, starting July 22, 2022. On November 17, it was extended for another 120 days and now expires on March 18.

Tags: Ukraine, USA