Earlier this week President Joe Biden said Ukraine has 20 million metric tons (MMT) of wheat and corn in storage, with no way to ship it out of the country.
Russian forces keep hammering key shipping areas in Ukraine, such as the city of Odessa on the Black Sea.
Farmers in Ukraine are planting corn and wheat, which will be harvested this summer, but with silos already full of last year’s harvest and ports closed, there is nowhere for it to go.
“Right now, Ukraine’s grain silos are full,” says David Beasley, executive director of the World Food Programme. “At the same time, 44 million people around the world are marching toward starvation. We have to open up these ports so that food can move in and out of Ukraine.”
Before the war, most of the food produced by Ukraine – enough to feed 400 million people – was exported through the country’s seven Black Sea ports. In the eight months before the conflict began, close to 51 MMT of grain transited through the ports.
“I don’t see how the country does anything but collapses if the ports aren’t opened,” he says. “Farmers harvest in July and August. You really only have a matter of days — around 60 — to resolve this issue.”
Read More: WFP calls for urgent opening of Ukrainian ports to help rein in global hunger crisis
All Eyes on 2022 Crops
Farmers in Ukraine will likely not get 25% to maybe as much as 40% of their corn crop planted this year, says Jon Scheve, president of grain for Superior Feed Ingredients. This, combined with how much is trapped in storage, creates extreme logistical hurdles.
The city of Odesa and nearby ports are important Ukrainian grain export hubs, he says, even more significant than how New Orleans is for U.S. grain exports.
“This means whichever country controls Odesa will control Ukrainian grain exports,” he says. “And if facilities are damaged or destroyed, it could take years before the region is a reliable global source of corn and wheat again. In the end, it may not matter if Ukrainian farmers get their crops planted if they do not have anywhere to move it.”
Read More: Are The Highs In? War And Weather Make Predicting Difficult.
Read More
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