Over the past two decades, Ukraine had become a global supplier of primary agriculture and food commodities, such as cereals and sunflower-seed oil. The full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, and subsequent blockade of its Black Sea ports, has caused major disruptions in its agriculture and food exports. As of June 2022, it had been estimated that Ukraine has been forced to continue storing at least 20m tons of its 2021/2022 harvest for exports.

The Russian and Ukrainian governments, mediated by the UN and Turkey, signed an agreement on July 22 that allows the export of grain and other agricultural products from selected Ukrainian Black Sea ports. In August, Ukrainian agricultural exports may have totaled about 4 million tons. However, it is unclear whether agricultural and food exports will increase sufficiently for the remaining 2021/2022 harvest to leave the country by the end of the year.

This question will be resolved positively if the Ukrainian government or the United Nations officially declares that Ukraine has fully exported its 2021/2022 harvest by December 31 2022.

Ukraine’s Role in Global Food Supply: Individual Countries’ Vulnerability | Bertelsmann Stiftung