As TQ Samsun, the last ship registered in the Black Sea Grain Corridor, left the port of Odessa with its cargo, Russia announced that the grain corridor deal is over. The Kremlin announced that it would not return to the agreement until its conditions were met.
Russia has announced that the Grain Corridor agreement will no longer be in force as of today and that it will not return to the agreement unless the conditions they put forward are met.
Wheat, corn and soybean futures, the commodities mainly transported under the deal, rose for the third consecutive session on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.
Since its signing a year ago, the deal has helped lower world grain prices by allowing the safe transport of more than 32 million tons of Ukrainian grain.
However, momentum has waned in recent months, with only about 250,000 tons moved in July as new ships were prevented from joining the deal. The slow pace of ship inspections had also cost exporters millions and forced them to turn to alternative trade routes.
The agreement was first agreed in July 2022 and has since been extended three times.
Harvests will be shipped through EU river ports, rail and roads
The end of the agreement will force an increasing amount of Ukraine’s 2023 harvest to be shipped through the European Union via river ports, rail and roads. While a significant amount of crops have already been transported this way, logistics costs are rising as grain is transported over longer distances.
To date, nearly 33 million tons of grain have been transported through the “Grain Corridor”, which was created to eliminate the risk of a food crisis due to the Russia-Ukraine war.
Under the agreement, 40 percent of the grain exported through the corridor was transported to Europe, 30 percent to Asia, 13 percent to Türkiye, 12 percent to Africa and 5 percent to the Middle East.