UN Secretary General: Developing countries received most of the wheat exported under the grain deal

UN Secretary General António Guterres said that developing countries received the bulk of the wheat supplied under the grain deal. Mr. Guterres promised that the UN will continue “round-the-clock work” to remove obstacles to the export of grain and fertilizers from Ukrainian ports.

“Most of the wheat in the framework of the Black Sea Grain Initiative was sent to developing countries. This includes about 380 thousand tons delivered by the World Food Program to support ongoing humanitarian operations in Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Somalia and Yemen,” the UN Secretary General said.

The UN Secretary General said that since the conclusion of the grain deal in Istanbul on July 22, Russian wheat exports have tripled. According to him, as part of the grain deal, 14 million tons of food was taken out of the ports of Ukraine.

Thanks to the grain deal, the FAO food price index has been down for eight consecutive months – during which time it fell by about 15%. However, Mr. Guterres noted that food prices are still high, and access to fertilizers is “too limited”.

In August, the European Commission (EC) unblocked the supply of Russian fertilizers as part of a grain deal. However, according to the explanation of the European Commission, only EU countries could buy Russian fertilizers. On November 4, Turkey and Russia agreed to send food to Africa free of charge. On November 11, the first batch of Russian fertilizers, blocked in one of the European ports, went to Malawi.

Anastasia Larina