Ukraine grain exports to transit Black Sea corridor Thursday

The United Nations said vessels loaded with grains are expected to move through Ukraine’s crop-export corridor on Thursday. 

The UN said earlier that ships would be halted on Wednesday, without giving an explanation. The halt was announced after Russia warned that vessels weren’t safe using the route. Wheat prices rose on news of the disruption. 

Russia suspended its role in the crucial Black Sea export pact over the weekend. The agreement -- signed in July -- guaranteed the safe passage of Ukraine crop exports, which are badly needed by food importers amid surging prices and a global cost-of-living crisis. 

“We expect loaded ships to sail on Thursday,” the UN coordinator for the Black Sea Grain Initiative said in a tweet. No movements are planned for November 2 under the initiative, he added. 

Grain vessels continued to leave Ukraine on Monday and Tuesday, even after Moscow withdrew its support for the deal. The UN said Tuesday those movements were “temporary and extraordinary.” 

Ukraine is one of the world’s top grain and vegetable-oil suppliers, and US President Joe Biden has said Russia’s pullback from the deal will increase global hunger. Ukraine’s farmers are in the midst of autumn harvests and may have to redirect crops along costlier and lengthier export routes by rail, road and river if the disruption to vessel traffic lasts.

“Russia should clearly know that it will receive a tough response from the world to any steps that disrupt our food exports. This is literally a matter of life for tens of millions of people,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Tuesday in his night address to the nation. “Pressure on Russia for the sake of guarantees of food security is now needed from everyone.”

Wheat futures in Chicago rose 2%, reversing earlier losses. Prices surged more than 6% the prior session. Corn also traded higher, and the Paris wheat contract reached a two-week high.

There are 110 cargo ships awaiting inspection in Istanbul to travel through to the Black Sea and load Ukrainian grain, said Yuriy Vaskov, Ukraine’s deputy infrastructure minister. He remained optimistic on the prospects of the grain accord even after Russia’s suspension, he said in an interview before the UN announcement.

Still, Kyiv is preparing contingency plans, Vaskov said. The nation has managed to boost logistics capacities of its three Danube River ports near the Romanian border by at least five times and railway capacities as much as twofold, he said.

The UN will issue another update on the status for the crop corridor on Wednesday, a spokesperson for the secretary-general said. The agency is “exerting all efforts” to resume full participation in the grain deal, a statement said.