Trade

Reuters writer Michelle Nichols reported yesterday that, “U.S. President Joe Biden said on Tuesday that temporary silos would be built along the border with Ukraine in a bid to help export more grain and address a growing global food crisis.”

Reuters writer Conor Humphries reported today that, “As 10-metre high mounds of sunflower meal smoulder among the blackened ruins of one of Ukraine’s top agricultural terminals, farmers in this front-line region are scrambling to survive a harvest under Russian fire.”

Reuters writer Pavel Polityuk reported today that, “Farmers of Ukrainian southern Odesa region have started the 2022 grain harvest taking advantage of favourable weather, regional officials said late on Sunday.”

Wall Street Journal writer Jared Malsin reported yesterday that, “Russian and Turkish officials ended talks Wednesday without a significant breakthrough toward creating a sea lane to export grain from Ukraine across the Black Sea as a part of a United Nations-backed effort to address a global food crisis.”

Wall Street Journal writer Jared Malsin reported today that, “Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov began talks with Turkish officials on Wednesday toward a possible deal to create a sea lane to export grain from Ukraine as a part of a United Nations-backed effort to address a global food crisis.”

Reuters writers Simon Lewis and Daphne Psaledakis reported yesterday that, “U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Monday there are ‘credible reports’ that Russia is ‘pilfering’ Ukraine’s grain exports to sell for profit.”

Declan Walsh and Valerie Hopkins reported on the front page of today’s New York Times that, “Russia has bombed, blockaded and plundered the grain production capacity of Ukraine, which accounts for one-tenth of global wheat exports, resulting in dire forecasts of increased hunger and of spiking food prices around the world.”

Financial Times writer Max Seddon reported today that, “Ukraine has warned that the world faces a critical food shortage unless Russia lifts its Black Sea port blockade, as improvements to other transport options would only enable it to deliver a fraction of its total grain stockpile. “Oleksandr Kubrakov, Ukraine’s infrastructure minister, told the Financial Times […]

Andrew Higgins and Erika Solomon reported in yesterday’s New York Times that, “The Baltic Sea port has silos to store plenty of grain, railway lines to transport it there from Ukraine, where it has been trapped by the war, and a deep harbor ready for ships that can take it to Egypt, Yemen and other countries in desperate need of food.”

William Mauldin, Jared Malsin and Evan Gershkovich reported in today’s Wall Street Journal that, “An effort to ship grain stranded by the Russia-Ukraine war showed progress Wednesday, as a top Russian official blessed Turkey’s role in removing mines from the Black Sea and a top U.S. official said Washington was working to keep sanctions from blocking Russia’s exports.”

Reuters writer Michelle Nichols reported yesterday that, “A senior U.N. official had “constructive discussions” in Moscow with Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Belousov on facilitating Russian grain and fertilizer exports to global markets, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said on Tuesday.”

Financial Times writers Polina Ivanova, Leila Abboud and Max Seddon reported late last week that, “European leaders have stepped up diplomatic efforts to loosen Russia’s hold on Ukraine’s grain supplies as Kyiv’s prospects in the eastern Donbas region worsen and the risk of a global food crisis mounts.”

On Thursday, the USDA released its Outlook for U.S. Agricultural Trade, a quarterly report from the Department’s Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) and Economic Research Service (ERS).

Karoun Demirjian, Alex Horton and Stefano Pitrelli reported in today’s Washington Post that, “The American general slated to become NATO’s next supreme allied commander warned Thursday that Russia’s blockade of Ukrainian grain exports could enable terrorist networks in other parts of the world and may require U.S. military intervention to ensure global markets don’t become destabilized.”

Alistair MacDonald, William Mauldin and Ann M. Simmons reported in today’s Wall Street Journal that, “Russia is open to easing its blockade of Ukraine’s ports along the Black Sea if sanctions on Moscow are lifted, a Russian official said Wednesday, a move that, if it went ahead, could increase grain exports and help relieve rising food inflation and shortages.”

Shane Harris reported on the front page of today’s Washington Post that, “Newly declassified U.S. intelligence shows that a Russian naval blockade has halted maritime trade at Ukrainian ports, in what world leaders call a deliberate attack on the global food supply chain that has raised fears of political instability and shortages unless grain and other essential agricultural products are allowed to flow freely from Ukraine.”

Bloomberg writer Yvonne Yue Li reported yesterday that, “Farmers are still making money despite the higher costs for fuel and fertilizer, as crop prices have risen even more.”

Reuters writer Pavel Polityuk reported on today that, “Ukraine’s grain exports could reach 1.5 million tonnes in May compared with around 1 million tonnes in April, Roman Slaston, Director General of the Ukrainian Agrarian Business Club Association, said on Monday.”

Reuters writer Pavel Polityuk reported yesterday that, “Ukrainian farmers have almost completed the sowing of spring wheat for the 2022 harvest and the overall rate of this year’s spring crop sowing is 25% lower than at the same date in 2021, the agriculture ministry said on Friday.”

Wall Street Journal writers William Mauldin and Vivian Salama reported in today’s paper that, “Russia dismissed calls from top United Nations and Western officials to halt a Black Sea blockade that has prevented Ukraine from exporting much of its grain to world markets, causing price hikes and exacerbating food shortages.”