UN Officials Pledge to Continue Agreement on Food and Fertilizer Exports from Russia and Ukraine

Introduction

On Friday, senior UN officials pledged to continue work on extending an agreement allowing food and fertilizer exports from Russia and Ukraine despite their war, in response to Moscow’s pessimism about an extension before it expires on July 17.

UN Deputy Spokesman Farhan Haq said that UN Secretary-General António Guterres called on the two countries to make global food security a priority and “help ensure unhindered, efficient and wide access to world markets for these products.”

“The agreements are contributing to the continued decline in global food prices, which are now less than 23 percent of the record high level recorded in March last year,” he added, according to the Associated Press.

Challenges and Progress

Last July, Turkey and the UN struck a breakthrough deal with the warring parties that allowed Ukraine to ship more than 32 million tons of grain from Black Sea ports to world markets.

However, Moscow complains that a separate memorandum between the UN and Russia to facilitate the supply of Russian food and fertilizer still faces serious obstacles.

UN Humanitarian Coordinator Martin Griffiths said on Friday that the United Nations has heard repeated statements from Russia “that there is no benefit to them and that the time has come … but, as the Secretary General has made clear, this does not prevent us from doing everything in our power” to reach an agreement.

“Unfortunately, at the moment there are no concrete reasons to extend the agreement,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday. But he also said that “the West still has time to implement those parts of the agreement that are important for Russia.”

Griffiths said UN trade chief Rebecca Greenspan, who was in charge of the Russian side of the deal, was “very eager” to meet with officials in Moscow next week.

Griffiths hopes to meet with the parties to the Black Sea Grain Initiative – Ukraine, Russia and Turkey – in Istanbul “if possible, next week.”

Importance of Russia and Ukraine as Suppliers

Ukraine and Russia are among the world’s most important suppliers of wheat, barley, sunflower oil and other food products on which developing countries depend. Russia is also a major supplier of ammonia, which is the main component of fertilizers.

Russia has had difficulty organizing shipping, insurance and banking operations due to sanctions imposed by the United States and the European Union following its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Moscow is also seeking to reopen an ammonia pipeline from Togliatti on the Volga in western Russia to the Black Sea port of Odessa in Ukraine.

Griffiths said Greenspan and her team have made “very significant progress” in removing barriers to Russian grain and fertilizer exports. But he said the ammonia pipeline had been damaged in three places in a very active war zone.