Russia and Ukraine agreed on Thursday to extend a deal allowing Kyiv to export grain through the Black Sea, writes the Washington Post in an explanation of the new agreement and what it means to the involved parties and the global community. According to the International Food Policy Research Institute, before the war, Ukraine shipped about 75 percent of its agricultural exports through Black Sea ports. Of those exports, about half went through the three ports designated in the deal (Odessa, Chernomorsk, and Yuzhny). When Russia briefly suspended its participation in the agreement, global wheat prices jumped. IFPRI explains that an extension of the agreement, would also prevent any immediate disruptions to grain supplies for countries such as Egypt, Sudan, Turkey, and Yemen, all of which have benefited from the deal. IFPRI senior research fellows Joseph Glauber and David Laborde write, “Countries in the Middle East and North Africa are “dependent on Ukraine as a supplier of wheat and other grains, but they tend to buy more during the winter to supplement their own harvests. Renewed interruption in imports could increase food insecurity in these countries and potentially exacerbate political tensions.”
