“The deal may yet be resurrected, but the negotiations are tricky,” writes the Economist in a story on Russia’s withdrawal from the Black Sea Grain Initiative.
Joseph Glauber, a senior research fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute notes, the brunt of the effect will be felt in Ukraine. The high costs of alternative routes for exporting its grain—via rail and rivers through Europe—will force Ukrainian farmers to slash prices, discouraging planting. Grain production there is already 35-40% lower than before the war, Greater use of these routes could also increase tensions between Ukraine and its eastern European neighbors, where its food exports compete with local produce for storage, railcars, port facilities and barges.
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Republished in ZN-UA (Ukraine).
