Ukraine is exporting grain to foreign markets at a record pace, a Sputnik analysis based on the country’s Customs and Agriculture Ministries has showed.
Over the past four months, Ukrainian companies have exported 22.2 million tons of corn, wheat and barley, or an average of 5.56 million tons per month. Before 2018, Ukraine’s grain exports amounted to around 14.7 million over the same four-month period, the analysis indicated.
Such rates of export can be attributed to two factors - the Russian Army’s ongoing offensive and the growing negative sentiments among Ukrainian farmers, independent industry analyst Leonid Khazanov told Sputnik.
"Farmers are trying to sell grain abroad at any cost in order to receive currency for it rather than candy wrappers in the form of hryvnia. So the farmers are using automotive and railway transport as well as ships through the remaining Ukrainian ports until their operation is paralyzed by Russian missile strikes," Khazanov pointed out.
Grain supplies were previously exported from Ukrainian ports under the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which ceased to be in effect on July 18, 2023, when Moscow suspended its participation in the agreement, which the Kremlin said lost its meaning due to a complete absence of progress on implementation of the agreement's part that concerned Russia.
Moscow cited the West’s systematic efforts to block the export of Russian food and fertilizers, and the fact that just three percent of the Ukrainian grain exported under the grain deal actually went to nations in need.
After Moscow suspended the deal, the Russian Defense Ministry said that all ships sailing through the Black Sea to Ukrainian ports would be considered potential carriers of military cargo involved in the Ukraine conflict on the side of the Kiev regime as of July 20, 2023. Even so, the Zelensky regime decided to go ahead with grain exports via the Black Sea.