UN food relief agency ‘stands ready’ to help EU shift glut of Ukraine grain

The United Nations’ World Food Programme (WFP) “stands ready” to help the EU clear a glut of Ukrainian grain disrupting markets in Eastern Europe and deliver it to countries that need it most, Martin Frick, director of the WFP Global Offices in Brussels and Berlin, told POLITICO.

Officials from the European Commission met with representatives from five Eastern European countries on Sunday to discuss proposals to address a vast influx of Ukrainian grain and other food products after four of them — Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and Bulgaria — imposed import bans.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and blockade of its Black Sea ports left Ukrainian grain exports stuck inside the country, driving up global prices and pushing countries in the Global South reliant on Ukrainian grain toward hunger. The EU quickly lifted tariffs and set up transit corridors through Eastern Europe. As a result, grain imports into these countries have shot up — much to the anger of farmers.

“Shipping grain to some of the world’s poorest people is critical in this global food crisis. We have been transporting grain from Ukraine via the Black Sea and stand ready to work with the European Commission and member states to find solutions,” Frick said in emailed comments.

“WFP’s need is significant, and we have the experience to handle the complex logistics in moving large quantities to countries in need,” he said.

Frick’s comments come ahead of the Agriculture and Fisheries Council’s meeting on Tuesday, where five countries, led by Slovakia, will table a proposal for Ukrainian grain to be purchased by the EU in cooperation with the WFP and transported on to “the third countries that originally were receiving these shipments from Ukraine and relied upon them.”

The club of five — Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Romania — deemed an earlier proposal by the EU, which suggested imposing “preventative measures” on four products, to be “not sufficient.”

The WFP already delivers foodstuffs exported from Ukraine under the Black Sea Grain Initiative, a deal brokered by the U.N. and Turkey last July that allows limited shipments. The deal’s fate now hangs in the balance after Russia said it would no longer guarantee the safe passage of ships after May 18. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is due to meet U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres in New York this week for crunch talks on whether the deal can be saved.

Tags: restrictions, Ukraine, grain, EU, food security