Ukraine has established two routes through Poland and Romania to export grain and prevent a global food crisis, although bottlenecks have slowed the supply chain°, says Dmytro Senik, Ukraine’s deputy foreign minister.

This information was confirmed by Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Agriculture Henryk Kowalczyk, who said that Poland, within the limits of its possibilities, is already helping in the transport of grain from Ukraine.

°We have improved border crossings administratively, thanks to which the sanitary services check the quality of cereals twenty-four hours a day°, added Deputy Prime Minister Kowalczyk. In his opinion, it is extremely important “to clear these passages. “Unfortunately, we have many technical problems. One of them is the different width of the railway tracks, which means that grain needs to be overloaded°, explained the Deputy Prime Minister.

°Transporting the amounts that Ukraine talks about, i.e. 4-5 million tons per month is unrealistic, but we will try to send as much of this grain as possible to the countries of North Africa and the countries of the Middle East”, assured Henryk Kowalczyk.

Ukraine is the fourth largest grain exporter in the world and, according to Kyiv authorities, there are approximately 30 million tons of grain on the territory of Ukraine, which the country is trying to export by land, river and rail.

The Russian blockade of Ukrainian ports, which prevents the export of food, is harmful not only to Ukraine but to the whole world. Many Asian and African countries are threatened by a severe and serious food crisis and hunger° said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during his online speech at the Asian conference in Singapore.

Adrian Andrzejewski