Grain exported from Ukraine under UN deal exceeds 1 million tonnes

The amount of grain exported by Ukraine reached 1 million and 43 thousand tonnes as of Saturday, the Turkish Defense Ministry said on Twitter. 

“A total of 57 empty cargo cargo ships set sail for Ukraine and 46 of them carried grains to world markets,” the ministry said. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also confirmed the amount in a late night address on Friday. 

“The grain-exporting initiative has been working for almost a month and, during this time, our three seaports…have exported the first million tons,” Zelenskiy said, adding that their goal was to reach 3 million tonnes.

After months of diplomatic efforts by the United Nations and Turkey, a crucial deal between Russia and Ukraine was signed on 22 July to reopen Ukrainian Black Sea ports for grain exports.

On August 2, the first ship carrying Ukrainian grain to world markets reached Istanbul, where the Joint Coordination Center was established to check whether the ships obliged the regulations brought with the deal. 

Since, grain exports reached 15 nations to help ease the global famine, but it is still a far cry from ending the food crisis as the numbers are still below the pre war levels, when Ukraine used to export by sea 5 million to 6 million tonnes of agricultural products monthly.