IMF: Russia's withdrawal from the grain agreement exacerbates global food prices

The International Monetary Fund warned on Wednesday that Russia's withdrawal from the agreement that allows Ukrainian exports through the Black Sea exacerbates the global food security crisis and threatens to raise food prices, especially for low-income countries.

An IMF spokesperson said the IFC would continue to closely monitor current developments in the region and their impact on global food security, Reuters reported.

"The suspension of the initiative is affecting food supplies for countries that rely heavily on shipments from Ukraine, particularly in North Africa, the Middle East and South Asia," the IMF said. "It weakens food security prospects and risks increasing global food price inflation, especially for low-income countries."

Several G20 members this week denounced Russia's move on Monday to withdraw from the U.N.-brokered deal to export grain through Black Sea ports over what Moscow said was a failure to meet its demands for a parallel deal that would ease rules on its food and fertilizer exports.

The grain agreement has facilitated the export of food, grains and fertilizers from Ukraine to the rest of the world, the IMF said.

The IMF spokesman noted that the agreement also helped ease pressures on global food prices while lifting export bans and increasing food production by more than expected in key exporting countries.

The spokesman said the deal allowed Ukraine to export about 33 million tonnes of grain by sea, revealing that this was an important factor for global food security.

According to figures reported by Anadolu Agency, this quantity of grain was shipped by more than a thousand ships through the corridor, since the first ship moved on August 1, 2022 until last Monday.

40 percent of the grain shipped through the corridor was transported to Europe, 30 percent to Asia, 13 percent to Turkey, 12 percent to Africa and 5 percent to the Middle East.

In July 2022, Turkey, the United Nations, Russia and Ukraine signed in Istanbul an agreement to resume grain shipments from Ukrainian ports that were temporarily halted after the start of the Russian war in February 2022, to address the global food crisis.

The deal, which has been extended several times, most recently on May 18 for 60 days, has allowed tens of millions of grains and food to be shipped from Ukraine since August, according to the United Nations.