Both land and maritime export volumes of Ukrainian grain and oilseeds are at risk of extreme reduction and blockade due to the Black Sea Grain Initiative interruption by the Russian side and introduced import restrictions to certain EU member-states.
The Russian side's recent aggressive and purposeful shelling of the Ukrainian Black Sea and the Danube ports' infrastructure caused considerable damage to grain ports' infrastructure, tanks, and grain storage facilities, destroying about 60,000 tons of grain. Considering that the Russian side uses food as a weapon, approximately 25 million tons of agricultural products have not been shipped to international markets, including cargo to countries with high hunger rates, such as Ethiopia, Yemen, and Afghanistan. Global food supply chains and security, including world food prices and hunger rates, are at significant risk again. Ukraine would not be able to export the harvest of this season, and due to the higher logistics costs of alternative routes (railway and road), the production will be reduced to minimal, which will accordingly increase the scale of the global food security threat in 2024.
Considering the above-mentioned, AmCham Ukraine calls on the European Commission to:
1. Provide "green corridors" for Ukrainian agricultural products to the EU sea ports of the Baltic states (Klaipeda, etc.), Germany (Rostock, Hamburg), the Netherlands (Rotterdam), Croatia (Rijeka), Italy (Trieste), Slovenia (Koper) that would increase the European Solidarity Lanes capacity approximately by 1 – 1,5 million tons of grain monthly including the following:
- to transfer the sanitary, phytosanitary, and veterinary control procedures from the Ukrainian border checkpoints to the territory of the destination country;
- to introduce subsidies by the European Commission to compensate for additional logistics and transportation costs.
2. Lift import restrictions for wheat, maize, rapeseed, and sunflower seeds from Ukraine to Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia after September 15, 2023, to ensure uninterrupted and continuous export of Ukrainian grain and oilseeds to world markets. Such a step is in line with the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement implementation while strengthening the European Solidarity Lanes operation will lead to the development of the EU ports infrastructure, and the usage of Ukrainian grain and oilseeds raw materials is beneficial for the European added value.
We are grateful to the European Commission and the Government of Ukraine for their unwavering support and all efforts to ensure the efficient operation of the European Solidarity Lanes platform.
