4.5 million tons of grain blocked in Ukrainian ports

About 4.5 million tons of grain in the ports of Ukraine cannot be exported these days due to the fact that the sea routes are blocked. This was stated by the director of the German branch of the UN World Food Program Martin Frick.

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“Now almost 4.5 million tons of grain are in Ukrainian ports and on ships and cannot be used for their intended purpose,” he said.

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“Food from Ukraine is essential to the world,” added Martin Frick. “Hunger cannot be a weapon either militarily or economically,” he noticed, and called for the resumption of food supplies from this country to other states in order to “soften the global food crisis.”

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European leaders have repeatedly warned of a global food crisis amid the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, as Ukraine and Russia are top grain exporters. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) recorded a rise in the food price index by 12.6% in March, to 159.3 points, which was a record since 1990. Such growth is due to a serious increase in prices, primarily for vegetable oils (by 23.2% in March versus February) and grains (by 17.1%).