Exports passing through the agreed grain corridor in Ukraine have continued to be sluggish since the extension of the grain deal last month. For example, 20% less wheat was exported in November compared to October. Slow ship inspections are mainly the reason for this.
According to the Ukrainian Organization of Grain Traders (UGA), 5 million tons of grains and oilseeds were exported by Ukraine in November. Exports that explicitly went through the grain corridor amounted to 2,3 million tons. Compared to October, this is 1,2 million fewer, when 3,5 million tons of grain and oilseeds were exported via the grain corridor. Exports across the mainland are in line with previous months.
Russia is bothering you
The number of daily ship inspections remains very low with an average of 3,5 for incoming ships and 3 for outgoing ships in the month of November. The Russian side is deliberately slowing this down, Ukrainian infrastructure minister Yuriy Vaskov told a meeting on December 7. It was also stated that as of December 7, 75 incoming ships and 27 outgoing ships were awaiting inspection.
There is enough efficiency to load 40 to 45 ships per week from the grain corridor. Currently it has dropped to an average of 24 ships. In order to speed up the entire grain corridor, Ukraine would prefer to see the inspection of outgoing ships disappear.
A total of 9 million tons of grain have been exported until December 19, a decrease of 32% compared to last season. Then exports on this date amounted to 28 million tons. In total this concerns 7,2 million tons of wheat, 1,5 million tons of barley, 10,2 million tons of corn and some other products such as rye. It is unclear how much volume has been exported this year and what comes from the 2021 harvest.