Russia has said it is pulling out of an internationally brokered deal that allowed Ukraine to resume exporting food from its Black Sea ports after it blamed Ukraine for the attacks against its ships at Sevastopol.

Russia lifted its naval blockade of Ukraine in July, allowing ships to use a safe corridor through the Black Sea.

Ships have been continuing to use the corridor, but fears that the deal will collapse have caused rises in world food prices.

Some food has gone directly to the poorest countries in the world, and some has been shipped to countries where people are at risk of starvation, under UN humanitarian relief programmes.

However, UN figures show that the bulk of Ukrainian food exported in the last three months has been going to Spain, Turkey, Italy, China, and the Netherlands.

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According to the latest data, 20% of grain went to Turkey, while another 27% was distributed among Asian countries; China (7%), The Republic of Korea (6%), Iran (5%), India (4%), Israel (2%), Yemen (2%), and Lebanon (<1%).

Turkey is a popular destination because it is a major miller of wheat, and the grain arriving there could be then shipped to poorer nations in Asia and Africa, or to Europe. The destinations are not recorded by the JCC.

Of the 36% of produce that went to the EU, 15% reached Spain, while Italy (7%), the Netherlands (5%), Romania (4%), Germany (3%), Ireland, France (1%), Bulgaria (<1%) and Greece (<1%) have all benefitted.

In the pre-war years, the top importers of Ukrainian wheat were Egypt, Indonesia, and Bangladesh.

The UN said in September that just under 30% had gone to lower-income countries, while 44% had been shipped to high-income countries.

However, the resumption of Ukrainian food exports across the world has helped lower food prices between July and the end of October, judging by the UN’s FAO food price index.

Russian President Vladimir Putin had claimed that “almost all” the Ukrainian grain shipped under an UN-backed deal to ease a global food crisis was reaching rich European nations, an accusation denied by Ukraine.

Putin said last Wednesday that the Ukrainian grain export was helping richer European countries at the expense of the developing world.

source bbc