The EU Delegation to Russia believes that most of the food products exported under the “Grain Initiative” are destined for low- and middle-income countries. Earlier, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Vershinin, in an interview with RTVI, said that about half of Ukrainian products “go to the EU and developed countries like South Korea and Israel.”
“Contrary to what Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Vershinin said in an interview on February 13, the vast majority of food exports go to low- and middle-income countries in need. A significant share also goes to developed countries, as this market is not controlled by authorities and market rules, such as the supply/demand rule, are freely applied between private entities,” said the EU delegation.
Since August 2022, under the Black Sea Grain Initiative, 17.8 million tonnes of cereals and other food products have been exported to 43 countries, said in a post on the UN Secretary General’s website on January 18. According to the data, around 44% of exported wheat was sent to low- and lower-middle-income countries (64% to developing countries). The EU has recognized that part of the cereals exported by Ukraine goes to the countries of the association, which acts as an intermediary and sends part of the agricultural products to certain countries in need. Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Vershinin stressed that the Russian representatives at the Joint Coordination Center in Istanbul have all court information nomenclature, volumes of exported products, destinations of deliveries from Ukraine under the grain agreement.
The EU Delegation to Russia considered inaccurate the statement by Deputy Minister Vershinin that the implementation Russia-UN Memorandum on the normalization of national agricultural exports “remains limited” and “trends towards zero”. “Russia claims that the memorandum of understanding, signed only by the UN and Russia, on the promotion of Russian agri-food products, does not work. The EU notes that the data <…> demonstrate the presence of a dynamic and prosperous trade – for example, data from the Russian Ministry of Agriculture, including [поставкам] fertilizer [из России за рубеж]», underlined the EU delegation.
The Representative Office believes that the Russian authorities are “voluntarily slowing down inspections of vessels involved in the grain agreement, which is causing serious delays [в поставках]”, and also “took measures aimed at restricting the export of certain goods from Russia in the form of export duties and quotas”.
The Ukrainian conflict has had negative consequences on world trade, for which “Russia can only blame itself”, and the end of hostilities could contribute to improving the situation, concluded the delegation of the European Union.
In July, Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and the UN signed an agreement in Istanbul that regulates the export of grain from Ukrainian ports along a safe maritime corridor. The grain deal was to be valid for 120 days (until November 19). On November 17, 2022, the agreement was extended until March 2023. In an interview with RTVI, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Vershinin said that “about half of Ukrainian products [в рамках «зерновой инициативы] goes to the EU and developed countries like South Korea and Israel. He also considered that progress in the implementation of the Russia-UN memorandum on the normalization of national agricultural exports “remains limited”, that new sanctions are imposed against Russia and that the transfer of 262,000 tons of Russian fertilizers to poorer countries became “a clear example of Westerners blocking Russian supplies.” Commenting to RTVI, EU Foreign Service Spokesman Peter Stano pointed out that the Black Sea Grains Initiative and land routes across the EU under the Solidarity Lines initiative” allowed the export of more than 40 million tons of cereals and other agricultural products and contributed to the fall in food prices in recent months. “Ismini Palla, UN spokesperson for the Joint Grain Deal Clearing House, told RTVI that “nearly 45% of exported wheat goes to low and lower middle income countries.” data on the website of the Joint Coordinating Center for the Grain Deal (as of February 17), China, Spain, Turkey, Italy, the Netherlands are at the top of the grain supply destinations, followed by Egypt, Israel and Bangladesh.
