In June-July 2022, the volume of supplies of Ukrainian grain fell by 43% ($771 million worth of deliveries against $1.3 billion a year earlier).
Despite the reduction in total supplies in the two summer months, Western countries increased their purchases of Ukrainian grain - $625 million against $380 million in 2021. At the same time, the rest of the world reduced purchases by almost seven times ($146 million against $967 million).
Thus, while last year Western countries accounted for only 28% of Ukraine's grain supplies, this year, the share of developed nations jumped to 81%.
On July 22, Russia, Ukraine, and Turkey signed an UN-brokered initiative to provide a humanitarian maritime corridor for ships with food and fertilizer exports from Ukrainian Black Sea ports. However, Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly said that most of the ships carrying Ukrainian grain did not make it to the world's poorest countries and ended up in Europe. Moscow has also maintained that the part of the deal concerning Russian food products was not working.
On Saturday, UN Coordinator for the Black Sea Grain Initiative Amir Mahmoud Abdulla said that the grain deal was likely to be extended and, possibly, expanded.