Ukraine: the amount of blocked cereals could triple by autumn, Zelensky warns

Europe 1 with AFP 5:56 p.m., June 06, 2022, modified at 5:58 p.m., June 06, 2022

The quantity of cereals intended for export and blocked in Ukraine because of the war could triple by "by the fall" to reach 75 million tonnes, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned on Monday.

"Currently, between 20 and 25 million tonnes of grain are blocked and this autumn this figure could increase to 70-75 million tonnes," the Ukrainian president, whose country was the world's fourth largest exporter of wheat and corn, told reporters. corn before the Russian invasion.

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Several ongoing discussions between the States

"We need maritime corridors and we are discussing this with Turkey and the United Kingdom" as well as with the UN, specified the Ukrainian president, adding that exports by sea allow the export of 10 million tonnes by month.

Ukraine is also discussing with Poland and the Baltic countries to export small quantities of grain by railways, he added.

"We need to be able to export cereals and I think we will do that," he said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin assured last week that there were "no problems exporting grain from Ukraine" referring to ways to export from Ukrainian ports, others under Russian control or via the Central and Eastern Europe.

Ukraine, which accuses Russia of blocking its ports, rejects these solutions.

"Putin cannot be trusted," Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kouleba wrote on Twitter on Monday, reacting to Moscow's promises not to attack the port of Odessa.

Ukraine and Russia, two grain superpowers

The Russian-Ukrainian conflict has pitted two cereal superpowers against each other since February 24 - Russia and Ukraine together provide 30% of world wheat exports.

It caused a spike in the prices of cereals and oils, the prices of which exceeded those reached during the Arab springs of 2011 and the "hunger riots" of 2008.

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- War in Ukraine: why a global food crisis is feared

Ukraine was on the way just before the war to becoming the world's third largest wheat exporter and alone accounted for half of the world's trade in sunflower seeds and oil.

The UN fears "a hurricane of famine", mainly in African countries which imported more than half of their wheat from Ukraine or Russia.

For the 2021/22 season, Ukraine exported 20 million tons of wheat and 27.5 million tons of corn, according to the US Department of Agriculture's WASDE (World Argicultural Supply and Demand Estimates) report.