United Nations expresses concern about slowdown of Black Sea grain exports
The United Nations expressed concern Thursday about a “continuous slowdown” in shipping traffic carrying grain from Ukrainian Black Sea ports during April and May, despite the recent renewal of the grain initiative agreed upon by Ukraine and Russia.
“In May, 33 vessels departed Ukrainian ports, half of the number compared to April,” UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said in New York. “Only three of those departed from the port of Pivdennyi, one of the three Ukrainian ports covered in the initiative.”
“Exports in May reached 1.3 million metric tonnes of grains and other foodstuffs, less than half of the previous month,” he continued.
Dujarric said that in the last week the number of inspection teams at the Joint Coordination Center, which clears ships for passage, has been reduced from three to two.
“The limited registrations and reduced inspection teams contributed to the drop of the average daily inspection rate to three.”
He called it a “serious situation,” and said that “global hunger hotspots are increasing and the spectre of food inflation and market volatility lurks in all countries.”
“We will continue our intense engagement with the parties towards the full resumption of operations and continuation of the Initiative, he added.
Ukrainian officials say Russia has blocked inbound traffic to the Black Sea and the Joint Coordination Centre was not able to formulate an inspection plan for Thursday.
Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said 50 ships were waiting to be cleared through the Bosphorus to be loaded with 2.4 million tons of food.
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