Ukraine deal will help Russian exports – UN

While boosting Ukraine’s exports, the grain deal will also slash logistical costs for Russia, lowering food prices, according to a UN official

While Ukraine resumes crucial grain exports from its Black Sea ports following a deal with Moscow, Russia will also benefit from lower export costs, the secretary general of the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) said on Saturday.

Rebeca Grynspan noted that the agreement, signed on Friday in Istanbul, will partially ease the sanctions pressure on Russia.

“There are delivery problems, insurance problems, payment problems, freight problems, and all these things make prices go up. So the main thing I foresee is that these difficulties will ease and transaction prices will come down,” she told RIA Novosti news agency.

The UN official said that according to UNCTAD calculations, half of the increase in global grain prices is a result of transportation and logistics costs, concluding that “if we facilitate trade, then trade flows will resume and prices will go down.”

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Grynspan said the UN will create a working group aimed at facilitating trade flows in the region.

“We will communicate with our partners in Europe, the US, with our Russian partners in order to understand the problems and obstacles they face as far as food and fertilizers are concerned,” she stated.

The Russia-Ukraine deal, brokered by Turkey and the UN, sets out a framework for resuming Ukrainian grain exports via Black Sea ports. In addition, Russia and the UN signed a memorandum implying UN involvement in lifting restrictions on the export of Russian grain and fertilizers to world markets. According to officials, the UN will broker the removal of obstacles created by US and EU sanctions on transactions, insurance, and logistics related to Russian agricultural exports.

The UN has repeatedly warned of the global threat posed by a grain and fertilizer shortage, and Friday’s agreement was seen as a way of averting a global food crisis.

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