Ukraine's Closed Ports Leaves Tomatoes Rotting in the Field

"Everything is slowly going to waste, it's already autumn and cold. There is nowhere to sell them or hand them in."

Russian strikes on the Greater Odesa ports since July 23 have all but halted maritime traffic, costing Ukraine more than $2bn in lost exports by the central bank's reckoning, as the drone war between the two countries shifts to crippling ports.

About 90% of Ukraine's farm exports used to go by sea, and rail, road and Danube routes cover only about 44% of the volumes the harvest could support, Agrarian Policy Minister Taras Vysotskyi said in September.

Grain can at least be stored while farmers wait, although the country faces an 11mn-tonne storage shortfall this autumn.

Kernel chief executive Yevhen Osypov has warned that Ukraine could lose up to 12mn tonnes of its 2027 harvest as farmers stop planting crops they cannot sell abroad.

#FoodWars

(source)