Media: Collapse of Black Sea grain deal will have disastrous consequences

The collapse of the Black Sea grain deal and Russian strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure have renewed the threat to the world’s food security from disrupted supplies, as Moscow pushes for a greater share of global grain exports, Report informs, citing Financial Times.

"Russia and Ukraine have targeted one another’s commodity exports infrastructure since the Kremlin in July pulled out of a UN-brokered deal enabling exports of Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea, leading traders to fear that further disruption will hit supplies.

"A single mis-step by either party will have disastrous consequences simply because there is no immediate substitute for all the grain exported by Russia and Ukraine from the Black Sea”, said Arif Husain, chief economist at the UN World Food Programme.

“Moscow is seeing an opportunity where if you take the Ukrainian share off the market, there’s a lot more share for Russia to take,” said Anthony Rizzo, agriculture and fertiliser analyst at consultancy CRU.