Is it true that almost all the grain was taken out of Ukraine from the European Union?

On September 7, Vladimir Putin said that the European Union countries took advantage of the agreement on grain export from Ukrainian ports. According to the Russian president, almost all the grain was directed to Europe, although it was intended for the poorest countries. We decided to check how true this is.

On its dissatisfaction with the implementation of the agreement on the humanitarian corridor for the unhindered export of grain Putin declared On the Eastern Economic Forum. According to him, “if Turkey is excluded as an intermediary country, then everything, almost all the grain exported from Ukraine is not directed to developing and poorest countries, but to the countries of the European Union.” He specified that only two ships were loaded under the World Food Program. “Many European countries in the previous decades and centuries acted as colonialists and continue to operate today. Once again, developing countries were just deceived and continue to deceive, ”Putin concluded and threatened to“ limit the directions of grain and other food on this route. ” The next day, Putin was supported by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. “Mr. Putin is right that deliveries on grain corridor are not carried out to poor countries, but mainly to developed” - declared Erdogan.

July 22 in Istanbul through the mediation of Turkey and in the presence of the UN Secretary General was Signed An agreement on the export of grain from Ukrainian ports on the Black Sea. After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, grain prices rose, and the UN announced the threat of hunger in many countries. Before the start of the war, Ukraine was one of the main world suppliers of corn, wheat and sunflower. According to the conditions agreements Classes provide a humanitarian corridor for the unhindered export of grain. In the preamble, the agreement indicates that the purpose of the contract is to prevent global hunger and reduce the risk of global food threats.

The main conditions are as follows: no armed ships can approach the humanitarian corridor; Commerce vessels can freely export grain and other food from three Ukrainian ports - Black Sea, Odessa and South. Each ship is subject to verification - this is done by a specially created joint coordination center (Joint Coordination Centre, JCC). Its tasks include checking the dry cargo transportes that go to Ukraine and arrive from there with cargo. Each ship is subject to accounting for what representatives of all agreed countries (Ukraine, Russia and Turkey), as well as the UN.

Almost every day, the coordination center publicly reports on the trade traffic of arriving and decreasing dry cargoes and places the appropriate press releases. They indicate the name of the vessel, the registration number, the name of the cargo, the volume of the cargo, the loading port and the destination port. For clarity, we brought this data to a single table.

Also, if necessary, you can always clarify the route of a vessel on one of the sites that track movements by sea, for example Vesselfinder.

From the table and explanations of the Coordination Center it can be seen that, indeed, only two merchant vessels carry cargo as part of the UN food program. On August 16, the Brave Commander vessel plunged 23,300 tons of wheat at the Yuzhny port and went to Djibuti. Then the wheat will be transmitted to the Ethiopia under the UN program. The second ship is Karteria. His route is more difficult: from the port "Yuzhny" it transported 37,500 tons of wheat to Turkey, there is wheat there grinded, and the flour was sent to another ship to Yemen suffering from hunger.

But if we are talking about the poorest countries, that is, the third vessel is Massa J, which is lucky 28,500 tons of wheat in Somalia.

If you turn to the data of the coordination center again (available at the time of Putin’s statement), then you can establish which countries have gone the most cargo. 27 ships with various food, primarily corn, went to the European Union countries, another ship is intended for the UK. Most of the dry loads were directed to the ports of Italy and Spain (six each), then Romania (four), Greece and the Netherlands (three each), France (two), Germany, Bulgaria and Ireland (one at a time) go. But the rest of the countries also sent a significant amount of goods - 18. Seven ships loaded food for Egypt, four for Israel, two for China, India and South Korea, and finally, one goes to the Iranian port. However, most of all the goods went to Turkey - 32 trading vessels, that is, more than in all countries of the European Union combined. Thus, Putin’s words that almost all the grain is directed to the European Union countries (remember about his reservation regarding the intermediary of Turkey) do not correspond to reality. 

The answer to the question why the grain is not immediately sent to countries that have appeared before the threat of hunger, there is statement The coordination center itself. “Export to any country will help to calm the markets and limit food inflation,” assures the structure in which there are delegates from Russia, Ukraine and Turkey. The official representative of the European Commission Eric Mamer previously spoke about this. August 5 at the next briefing He explained that the supply of Ukrainian grain to the EU reduces pressure on the markets and releases additional volumes in the world market for sending to Africa. In addition, Mamer noted: “The European Union does not export grain to Europe, we simplify the traders with the possibility of exporting grain, and then they themselves decide what the point of its purpose will be.”

Based on the available data, we can conclude that some of the food goods were indeed sent to the European Union countries. But the statement according to which “almost all the grain”, taken through the humanitarian marine corridor from Ukrainian ports, went to Europe, is not true.

Body image: Vesselfinder

Most of the untruth

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