Twenty-five ships exported 1.1 million tons of agricultural products to countries in Africa, Asia, and Europe under the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which established a humanitarian maritime corridor to allow ships to export grain and other foodstuffs from Ukraine, last week.
The Ukrainian Ministry for Development of Communities, Territories, and Infrastructure announced this in a statement, the CFTS portal reports.
According to the statement, 54,000 tons of wheat were exported to Sri Lanka, 57,000 tons to Bangladesh, and 90,000 tons to Kenya, Tunisia, and Egypt.
Compared with the previous week, the volume of exports through the ports of Greater Odesa increased by 152,000 tons.
However, according to the statement, the rate of arrival of new vessels to load agricultural products continues to fall. The ports of Greater Odesa received only 16 ships last week, compared with 25 the week before.
"The trend toward a reduction in the number of ships calling at Ukrainian ports to load agricultural exports is because of Russia's actions in the inspection zone in the Bosporus. The Russians are deliberately sabotaging inspections for the third consecutive month," the report says.
In connection with this, 145 ships were awaiting inspection by the Black Sea Grain Initiative’s Joint Coordination Commission (JCC) as of 12 February, including 122 bound for Ukrainian ports to load agricultural products.
Currently, 18 vessels are in the ports of Greater Odesa, where they are being loaded with 584,500 tons of Ukrainian agricultural products.
Only one vessel is traveling through the "grain corridor" after the completion of its inspection, the statement said.
According to the statement, the tonnage of vessels participating in the initiative will be increased (from 20,000 tons to 25,000 tons for grain and from 6,000 tons to 10,000 tons for oil) to increase the volume of exports under the current conditions and reduce idle time.
"Given that the average number of inspections of inbound vessels is only 2.5 vessels per day, an increase in the volume should be expected in one and a half months," the ministry said.
According to the statement, 732 ships carrying 21 million tons of Ukrainian agricultural products to countries in Asia, Europe, and Africa have left the ports of Greater Odesa since 1 August 2022. This figure would be over 35 million tons had the humanitarian maritime corridor been functioning normally.
