Russian missile attacks leave few options for Ukrainian farmers looking to export grain
LA TimesAn employee walks near mangled warehouses at a grain facility in Pavlivka, Ukraine, on Saturday following Russian missile attacks. The Black Sea handled about 95% of Ukrainian grain exports before Russia’s invasion and the United Nations-brokered initiative allowed Ukraine to ship much of what farmers harvested in 2021 and 2022, said Joseph Glauber, senior research fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute. Ukraine, a major supplier of corn, wheat, barley and vegetable oil, shipped 36.2 million tons of grain under the nearly yearlong deal designed to ease a global food crisis. From the first of July last year until June 30 this year, Ukraine exported 68 million tons of grain, according to data from Mykola Horbachov, the president of the Ukrainian Grain Assn. We are moving forward.” Osmachko estimated around 80% to 90% of the approximately 3.2 million tons of grain Agroprosperis exported to China, Europe and African countries during the past year went through the grain corridor.