Wheat prices decline with the extension of the grain agreement..and authorization for three new ships to participate
The United Nations said on Thursday that three new ships were authorized to participate in a deal to export Ukraine’s grain through the Black Sea, while global wheat prices fell a day after Russia agreed to extend the deal for 60 days.
Reuters said that Farhan Haq, deputy spokesman for the United Nations, confirmed that the Joint Coordination Center allowed three new ships today, Thursday, to travel to the Ukrainian ports of Odessa and Chornomorsk, and the third port, Pivdeni, as part of the Black Sea deal as well.
“While we welcome this partial resumption of traffic activity, we call on the parties to ensure that the authorization of the new vessels applies to all three ports to utilize capacity and meet industry requirements,” Haq told reporters.
Meanwhile, futures contracts for wheat on the Chicago Stock Exchange fell 2% to $6.12 a bushel, meaning prices have fallen 23% since the start of the year, and 57% since the all-time high of $14.30 a bushel, in September. March of last year, at the beginning of the crisis caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Antonio Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, praised, in press statements reported by “CNN”, the agreement to extend the agreement, considering that this type of agreement is “very important for global food security,” as Ukrainian and Russian products, as he put it, feed the world.
The deal was due to expire on Thursday, but Turkish and Ukrainian officials said it would be extended for another two months. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also confirmed that Moscow had agreed to the renewal.
Ukraine and Russia together account for nearly a third of global wheat exports, according to the company Agro Intelligence, an agricultural data company, and they are also among the top three global exporters of barley, corn, rapeseed oil and sunflower oil.
Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February of last year, Moscow banned grain shipments from Black Sea ports, disrupting the delivery of millions of tons of the region’s grain to many countries that depend on it.
In the days following the invasion, global wheat prices skyrocketed, with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) warning that 47 million people could become “acute food insecure” as a result of the war.
UNCTAD, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, an intergovernmental body, said in a press statement yesterday, Wednesday, that the renewal of the grain agreement helps “stabilize markets and reduce volatility.” The international body confirmed that global food prices have decreased by 20 percent. % since reaching an all-time high in March 2022.
