Ukraine wants one-year extension of grain contract to include new ports | – #Ukraine #oneyear #extension #grain #contract #include #ports
KYIV, February 22 (Reuters) – Ukraine this week Turkey and the Black Sea Grain Agreement from the United Nations cancellation will ask to start negotiations to of Ukraine A senior official will request an extension of at least one year, which includes the ports of Nikolaev. said on Wednesday.
Last July UN and the Turkey-brokered Black Sea Grain Initiative of Ukraine allowed the export of grain from three ports. The contract was extended in November and will expire on March 18 unless an extension is agreed.
of Ukraine Yuri Vaskov, the Deputy Minister of Reconstruction, told Reuters in an interview: “This week it is official from us offer in the future, it is necessary to work on its extension”.
According to him, the exact date of the previous talks in Turkey has not yet been determined.
“We will ask that… we will extend it not for 120 days, but for at least one year, because Ukraine and global village the agricultural market should be able to plan these volumes (of exports) in the long term,” Vaskov said.
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He said that Ukraine will insist on increasing the number of inspection teams “to eliminate the backlog of ships awaiting inspections”.
Ukraine repeatedly beat Russia village accused of delaying the inspection of ships carrying agricultural goods, which led to reduced shipments and loss of traders.
Russia denying these accusations, he said that he fulfilled all his obligations under the grain export contract.
Vaskov said that the situation regarding inspections has not changed since November Russia there are only three inspection groups on the side.
“There is no positive momentum. At the same time, UN, Turkey and Ukraine is ready to carry out 40 inspections per day if necessary. And there is such a need – about 140 ships are waiting for inspection,” he said.
POTENTIAL TO INCREASE EXPORTS
Grain exports of Ukraine, the main global grain producer and exporter, in the 2022/23 season 20 decreased by 28.7% to 30.3 million tons as of February.
According to the contract, Ukraine about 3 million tons per month village exports agricultural products, but Vaskov said Ukraine could export 6 million tons a month from ports in the Odessa region, which could increase to 8 million tons if Nikolayev joins.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture, although the grain harvest in 2022 has fallen to 54 million tons from a record 86 million in 2021, at least 30 million tons of grain are still in silos and can be exported.
Vaskov said that Nikolayev ports, which accounted for 35% of Ukraine’s food exports before the Russian invasion, were ready to join the initiative and that it would take a maximum of two weeks to become operational.
According to him, Kyiv He does not see Russia’s occupation of the Kinburn spit as an obstacle to adding the Nikolayev ports to the extended contract. The land spit overlooks the route that ships will use to sail from the ports of Nikolayev to the Black Sea.
“If the ports (the city of Mykolyav) are included in the initiative, there will be an obligation not to attack ships carrying agricultural products, which may work in the current situation,” said Vaskov.
Report by Pavel Polityuk; Edited by Tom Balmforth and Barbara Lewis
Our standards: Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
2023-02-22 15:47:04
Source – reuters
Translation“24 HOURS”