Ukraine’s grain exports have fallen 46% since the start of the 2022/23 season

On Monday, the Ukrainian Ministry of Agriculture said that Ukraine’s grain exports fell 45.6 percent year on year in the 2022/23 season to 6.364 million tons.

Ukraine’s grain exports have fallen since the start of the war because its ports on the Black Sea, a major shipping route, have been closed, driving up global food prices and raising fears of shortages in Africa and the Middle East.

Three ports on the Black Sea opened at the end of July under an agreement between Moscow and Kyiv brokered by the United Nations and Turkey.

The ministry’s data showed that exports so far in the season that began in July 2022 and ends in June 2023 included 3.72 million tons of corn, 2.06 million tons of wheat and 557,000 tons of barley.

The data showed that the pace of grain exports rose so far in September, but volumes were still well below last season’s levels.

Ukraine exported 2.07 million tons of grain in the first 19 days of September, 29.4 percent less than the same period in 2021. Exports fell 34 percent in the period from September 1 to September 13 and 40 percent in the period from September 1 to 7 .

The government said Ukraine could harvest 50-52 million tons of grain this year, compared to a record 86 million tons in 2021, due to Russian forces seizing its own land and lower grain yields.