Grain exporters are being hit by indirect sanctions, with Western businesses unable to provide services critical to the industry, the head of the Russian industry organization has outlined in an interview with RT.
Russian Union of Grain Exporters boss Eduard Zernin explained that even though the foodstuff is exempt from sanctions imposed by Western powers, firms located or registered in those countries were systemically refusing to work with Russian suppliers.
“Among them are banking institutions of this or that country that have been rejecting payments, or vessels flying the flag of this or that country that suddenly stopped entering Russian ports despite all the valid licenses,” Zernin said. “We have seen a wave of individual initiatives, the scale of which was massive.”
Russia accounts for more than 20% of the world’s grain shipments, the official noted, adding that the latest attempts “to erase or cancel Russian produce from global markets has failed,” as the elimination of such a prodigious amount of supplies would inevitably trigger a global food crisis.
“Direct pressure is impossible, but if we face another upsurge in disguised sanctions targeting shipments of Russian grain, famine may be inevitable,” he warned.
According to Zernin, the hidden sanctions applied to Russian exporters last year sent prices for wheat surging from $300 to $450 per ton.
He added that prices began declining only when those restrictions were eased, after the Russian Union of Grain Exporters raised concerns on the international level, having alerted the United Nations to the issue.
“We have faced and are still facing challenges related to banking operations,” Zerin said. “We managed to resolve nearly all the issues relating to fleets, partly arising from increased freight tariffs.”
According to the head of the union, Russian grain exporters have also been cut off from the legal regulation platform as part of Western restrictions.
“As a result, we are not able to resolve any legal disputes at specialised arbitration platforms,” he said.
Global food prices likely to soar higher – WTO
RT
Food prices surged 18% globally last year, including a 21% rise in the cost of grain, the World Trade Organization (WTO) estimated in its Global Trade Outlook published on Wednesday.
According to the organization, fertilizer prices saw an even larger increase of 63% year-on-year. The WTO noted that, in theory, higher food costs “should encourage more agricultural production, resulting in greater availability and lower prices for food in the future,” but warned that move expensive fertilizers could lead to reduced crop yields and, ultimately, new price spikes.
The organization also noted that food prices fluctuated strongly in 2022, first jumping 19% between January and May, following the start of Russia’s military operation in Ukraine, and then dropping 15% between May and December.
Overall, while “global food supplies are less precarious than many had feared” in connection with the Ukraine crisis, they “remain a cause for concern,” WTO warned. According to its calculations, the volume of world wheat trade, for instance, fell by roughly 7.5% since 2021, which leaves “little margin for error if a major producer suffers a crop failure or climate-related natural disaster.”
WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala on Wednesday called on developed economies to be vigilant to signs of the food crisis triggering hunger in poorer nations. She reiterated her earlier calls for lifting export restrictions on food and fertilizers, noting that as of April 2023, some 67 countries have such curbs. She also warned that global trade is likely to “remain under pressure from external factors in 2023.” According to her, these include the crisis in Ukraine and other geopolitical tensions, inflation, and the impact of tightening monetary policy.
1 comment:
IMO, No it won't, we don't need them, why do we buy into this, we are a world of plenty and create a crisis cause of one country with-holding food supplies?
By the way, it's reputed soil wise, Ukraine has the best soil it's told, and there are so many other great food producing countries including USA; Of course the land has to be used to grow crops, right? Don't we give AID to other countries already? How is this done if so a horrible food shortage going on? The sky is still falling, is this the narrative?
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