More than 80 ships with Ukrainian grain in the Bosphorus wait from three to five weeks to pass the so-called inspection. This was stated by the Deputy Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine Markiyan Dmytrasevich.
Inspection both in entry and exit
Ukraine has repeatedly proposed to introduce changes in the work of inspections. First, increase the number of teams that perform such checks. Secondly, to cancel the inspection of ships on “exit”, since they are already inspected on “entry”.
This would significantly speed up the passage of Ukrainian grain ships through the Bosphorus. However, the Russians participating in the inspection find artificial reasons to delay it and make it so long.
Extend it at least for a year
“There are several initiatives that were also announced by the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyi. First of all, it is important for us that the grain initiative is not extended every 4 months – for this, it should be done at least for a year, and in the best case – indefinitely. It would also signal to the market and our farmers that they can export their products. In addition, we propose to expand the geography of the grain initiative to Mykolaiv ports. Constant consultations on these issues continue,” Dmytrasevich summarized.
During the activity of the grain initiative, Ukraine sent about 13 million tons of grain from Odesa ports. In the period from February 24, 2022, we exported a total of about 32 million tons of grain.