Ukraine can export up to 4.5M t of agri-products/month amid Black Sea blockade - expert

Ukraine will be able to export up to 4-4.5 million tonnes of agricultural products per month via alternative routes without exporting through the Black Sea.

Denys Marchuk, deputy chairman of Ukrainian Agrarian Council, stated this at Ukraine Media Center – Ukrinform.

"If all the circumstances are favorable, we could ensure the monthly movement (of agricultural exports via alternative routes - ed.) within 4-4.5 million tonnes. But several things need to be done," he said.

Marchuk noted that to increase the volume of Ukrainian agricultural exports through alternative routes, it is necessary to reduce the cost of logistics to a number of European ports (in Italy, Germany, Croatia, etc.) and to cancel phytosanitary inspections during transit and carry them out safely in the importing country.

According to him, Ukraine will also be able to increase exports of agricultural products through the Danube seaports but only if there is no Russian shelling, which provokes an increase in freight costs.

As Ukrinform reported, Ukrainian agrarian and business associations have appealed to the European Commission (EC) with a proposal to optimize alternative routes (solidarity lanes) for grain exports from Ukraine to European ports with further shipment to third countries.

The farmers propose that the EC compensate part of the costs of European carriers and ports that transit Ukrainian grain, as well as introduce "green corridors" for Ukrainian agricultural products to the seaports of the Baltic states, Germany, the Netherlands, Croatia, Italy, and Slovenia. The idea is to carry out sanitary, phytosanitary, and veterinary control not at checkpoints on the border with Ukraine but in the territory of the country of destination.

According to the associations' estimates, such measures will increase exports of Ukrainian agricultural products by 1-1.5 million tonnes per month.