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Four bulk ships carrying grain and sunflower oil left the Ukraine ports of Odesa and Chornomorsk August 7, the first convoy of food-laden ships to sail out of the war zone
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The Philippines was No. 6 top importer of Ukraine wheat last year, but so none of the first five ships that have left the war zone in recent days will deliver to Manila
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Last year, Filipino traders imported 1.02 million tons of Ukrainian wheat
Four more bulk carriers carrying grain and sunflower oil left the southern Ukraine ports of Odesa and Chornomorsk on August 7, the first convoy of grain ships to sail out of the war zone through a Black Sea maritime corridor arranged by the United Nations and Turkey.
The opening of the corridor two weeks ago is welcome news to countries, including the Philippines, which rely on grain imports from Ukraine to avert a food crisis.
However, none of the grain shipped out Sunday is bound for Manila. A shipload will be delivered to China, another to Italy and the remaining two to Turkey, media reported.
Last year, Filipino traders imported 1.02 million tons of Ukrainian wheat for flour production, making the Philippines the No.6 biggest importer of the grain from the embattled country, according to data from Standard & Poor’s used by BBC in a graphic.
The top 10 importers of Ukrainian wheat in 2021 were Egypt with 3.62 million tons, Indonesia with 3.33 million, Bangladesh with 2.3 million, Turkey with 1.19 million, Yemen with 1.06 million, the Philippines with 1.02 million, Morocco with 0.88 million, Tunisia and Libya with 0.76 million each and Ethiopia with 0.68 million.
At this stage, it is not clear how much undelivered wheat the Philippines has imported from Ukraine this year. A request for data on import of grain from Ukraine that PortCalls emailed to the Philippine Statistics Authority on August 8 has remained unanswered.
The four ships are bound for Turkey, where they will be inspected by Turkish, Russian, Ukrainian and United Nations representatives at the Joint Coordination Centre set up by the UN in Istanbul to monitor implementation of the deal with Russia.
The four left on Sunday and after loading the unspecified amount and type of grain and sunflower oil from the Odesa and Chornomorsk ports, news organizations reported.
After the inspection, two will dock in Istanbul while the two others will sail through the Bosphorus strait to deliver their cargo to Italy and China, the reports said.
Another empty ship arrived in Chornomorsk on Sunday afternoon to load grain for export.
The success of the grain export deal is vital to Ukraine and the rest of the world, as about 20 million tons of grain is stuck in the country due to Russia’s blockade of Ukrainian ports.
If the deal holds, Ukraine expects to export up to 3 million tons of grain per month.
Ukrainian authorities say there are good signs that the grain exports are safe and have urged companies to return to the country’s ports.
The exports will hopefully help ease the global food crisis while bringing in much-needed foreign currency for Ukraine. President Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed the resumption of exports, but said security concerns remained.
The Razoni, the first ship to leave Ukraine last week laden with 27,000 tons of corn, left Odesa for Lebanon’s port of Tripoli. But Lebanese officials said the Razoni would not dock in Tripoli on Sunday as planned. The Ukrainian embassy in Lebanon told Reuters the ship was “delayed”.
