Alert! Russia Signals Earth’s ‘Famine’ Approaching

International

Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – Signs of the world food crisis in the midst of the Russo-Ukrainian war have reappeared. This was due to Russia signaling that it would not approve grain shipments from the Black Sea on July 17.

In a press statement on Thursday (25/5/2023), Russia said grain exports from its territory would not be approved in the absence of an agreement on safe wartime exports from three Ukrainian Black Sea ports.

Apart from that, Moscow also requested that the Russian agricultural bank, known as Rosselkhozbank, be returned to SWIFT’s international payment network to smoothen its global trade.

“If Rosselkhozbank is not connected with SWIFT and there is no progress in implementing other ‘systemic’ problems that hinder our agricultural exports, then the ‘Black Sea initiative’ will also have to look for alternatives,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. Reuters.

Moscow suggests export by road in Europe as an alternative. However, the line is more expensive for Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Rosselkhozbank was cut off from SWIFT by the European Union (EU) in June due to Russia’s attack on Ukraine. An EU spokesperson said the bloc was not considering the recovery of Russian banks.

To help convince Russia to allow Ukraine to resume Black Sea grain exports, a three-year pact was also drawn up last July in which the United Nations also agreed to help Moscow make deliveries of its food and fertilizer.

“Under the pact, and as an alternative to returning Rosselkhozbank to SWIFT, US bank JPMorgan Chase & Co has been processing some Russian grain export payments,” a source told Reuters last month, adding a Russian viewpoint that deemed this inappropriate. for the long term.

“The United Nations is working with the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) to create a platform to help process transactions for Russian grain and fertilizer exports to Africa,” the top UN trade official told Reuters.

The Black Sea grain deal also allows for the safe export of ammonia. But the pipeline through which Russia pumps up to 2.5 million tonnes of ammonia annually for export via Ukraine’s Pivdennyi Port has not restarted.

A Ukrainian government source told Reuters Last Friday that Kyiv would consider allowing Russian ammonia to transit its territory for export if the Black Sea grain deal is expanded to cover more Ukrainian ports and a wider range of commodities.

Ukraine and Russia are known to be one of the world’s food granaries. The two warring countries produced grains such as wheat and corn.

The war between the two has disrupted food distribution channels for the world, especially for countries such as the Middle East and Africa. This is because the region is quite dependent on supplies from the two countries.

(luc/luc)