WFP will help sell surplus Ukrainian grain

The UN World Food Program (WFP) has agreed to help the EU export surplus Ukrainian grain.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the blockade of Black Sea ports led to a record rise in world food prices. To avoid global hunger, the EU canceled tariffs on grain imports from Ukraine and created corridors for its transit through Eastern Europe. As a result, cheap Ukrainian agricultural products quickly captured the Eastern European market. This led to a drop in the income of local farmers and created risks of bankruptcy of the agricultural industry in neighboring countries.

The UN World Food Program has agreed to help EU countries export Ukrainian grain to countries that need it. The countries of Eastern Europe, which were affected by the influx of Ukrainian grain, will make proposals regarding the transportation of grain to third countries.

Getting grain to the poorest countries is crucial in overcoming the global food crisis. WFP already transports grain from Ukraine across the Black Sea. Now the organization is ready to work with the European Commission to find a way to export surplus Ukrainian agricultural products, – said the director of the WFP Office in Brussels and Berlin, Martin Frick.

USM recently wrote that the European Commission proposes to temporarily  ban the import of Ukrainian agricultural products to Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia and Poland. The list of prohibited goods includes corn, wheat, rapeseed, sunflower seeds and oil.