Ukraine faces grain export crisis due to port closures

MOSCOW, August 20. /TASS/. Ukraine is unable to sell 61 mln tons of grain on foreign markets due to the suspension of seaport operations, Verkhovna Rada (parliament) member Anna Skorokhod said.

"The biggest problem is grain export. The issue is that 90% of grain used to be exported via sea routes. As of today, all those sea routes are cut off. We have 61 mln tons of grain at risk. If we are talking about opening up various land corridors, easing bureaucratic procedures, and utilizing various transit routes through European countries, the maximum volume we can manage is 24 mln tons," she said in an interview with journalist Vitaly Diky, adding that this has a detrimental effect on foreign currency earnings, tax revenues, and the country’s economy.

Since July 22, the Ukrainian ports of Odessa, Chernomorsk, and Yuzhny (the so-called Greater Odessa region) have neither received nor dispatched a single foreign cargo vessel. Ukrainian exporters and importers are forced to use the Danube ports of Izmail, Reni, and Ust·Dunaisk, the Romanian port of Constanta, as well as roads and railways to the country’s western border.