Secretary General of the UN Conference on Trade and Development called for an extension of the agreement on the export of grain from Ukrainian ports.
Secretary-General of the UN Conference on Trade and Development Rebeca Greenspan, speaking at the UN Security Council on Monday, called for an extension of the agreement on the export of grain from Ukrainian ports and to continue facilitating the unhindered export of Russian food and fertilizers to world markets.
“The impact of these two agreements became apparent in a short amount of time and led to massive implications for global welfare,” Greenspan said. – Export of grain from Ukraine and the Russian Federation has increased significantly. Wheat exports from Russia tripled between July and September, while wheat exports from Ukraine more than quadrupled over the same period, resulting in lower food prices and improved access to food for humanitarian organizations.”
Greenspan noted that as a result of the agreement, the food price index of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) fell for six consecutive months by about 16%. According to World Bank projections, this reduction could have prevented more than a hundred million people from becoming impoverished.
However, uncertainty over the continuation of the grain export agreement is now pushing prices up again, Greenspan said, and what’s more, fertilizer prices are still two and a half times higher than in 2019.
Greenspan warned that the situation could lead to a “crisis of enormous proportions” and called for ensuring the access of fertilizers from Russia to key markets.
She called on all parties to make every effort to renew and extend the agreement on the export of grain from Ukrainian ports and to implement both agreements in full.
