Last Friday, the world breathed a sigh of relief as Russia, Ukraine and Turkey signed an agreement which would open channels from Ukraine so that once again it could export wheat. The agreement had an immediate effect on the price – dropping it to pre-war levels.
But the very next day a Russian missile strike on a Ukrainian port – the same one which had just opened for exporting wheat – raised uncertainty in the market, slowly pushing prices up once again.
Although the prices have dropped significantly with assurances that exports from Ukraine will continue, the world and Trinidad and Tobago by extension are still very much in the middle of a food crisis that could go from bad to worse in an instant.
Companies such as NFM now have to become more agile to secure the best food with the best prices as markets become smaller and more volatile.
Russian, Turkish and Ukrainian diplomats brokered an agreement between the three countries to allow safe access for ports on the Black Sea to transport wheat. The deal would promise to open the way for some 20-25 million tons of wheat to be exported, giving a much-needed ease to the grain crisis currently affecting Africa and the Middle East.
The deal was made in Istanbul, Turkey. It would be in force for 120 days and would include safe passage across the Black Sea from the Ukrainian port of Odesa along with two other ports, with UN, Turkish Russian and Ukrainian officials co-ordinating to ensure no weapons are smuggled across borders.
The deal had an immediate effect on the price of wheat, dropping futures in Chicago by 5.9 per cent to US$7.59 per bushel. In Europe, prices for delivery in September dropped to US$325 a ton.
Tymofiy Mylovanov, president of the Kyiv School of Economics and adviser to the Zelensky administration, was hopeful on Friday that the deal would bring relief.
“It is great to see diplomacy at work during the war. Thank you Ukrainian and international diplomats for your professional work,” he said in a tweet. “Let’s see how it works. I hope it does.”
It didn’t work. On Saturday, Russian missiles struck part of the Odessa port as it began preparing shipments of wheat to cross the Black Sea. On Sunday Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Maria Zakharova said Russians hit a Ukrainian military boat in the port of Odessa with “high-precision missiles.”
Zelensky’s administration confirmed that silos and other infrastructure necessary for the export of wheat were not damaged by the missile strike, but the attack left the world uncertain that Russia would stay true to its word. That has also affected the price of wheat, raising it three per cent to US$7.95 per bushel.
[caption id="attachment_967029" align="alignnone" width="1000"] Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, centre right, and UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres lead a signing ceremony at Dolmabahce Palace in Istanbul, Turkey, on July 22. Guterres and Erdogan were due to oversee the signing of a key agreement that would allow Ukraine to resume its shipment of grain from the Black Se
