Ukraine grain exports back to pre-war levels, says US official


The ongoing conflict between Ukraine and Russia resulted in a massive food shortage around the world due to the latter’s inability to send out grain exports. Ukraine is one of the leading exporters of food grains in the world and the Russian blockage on the Black Sea led to a global. However, the situation is getting better and a United States official said that the country is well on course to ship almost the same quantity of grain exports as it used to before the invasion after reaching an agreement with Russia. 

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“Thanks to intensive international cooperation, Ukraine is on track to export as much as four million metric tons of agricultural products in August,” a senior US State Department official told AFP. 

The Russian invasion has dealt a massive blow to the supply chain all around the world and with no exports from Ukraine, the United Nations believed that the world could experience one of the worst food shortages in history. However, the current levels have brought respite to global concerns. 

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According to the US authorities, around 720,000 tons of grain were carried out of Ukraine in the past few weeks with the help of 33 ships. The European Union has also introduced “Solidarity Lanes” – a system of vehicles on road and water – to solidify the distribution process of the exports from Ukraine. 

The US has also announced that it will be contributing $68 million to the World Food Programme which will be used to buy150,000 metric tons of Ukrainian wheat in a bid to battle the global food crisis. 

(With inputs from agencies)

 





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