News
Russian, Ukrainian leaders discuss grain exports
Leaders from Russia, Ukraine, Turkey, and the UN are holding grain export talks Wednesday in Istanbul.
Turkish leaders are acting as mediators between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Zelensky said he held talks with Turkey’s President Monday on the need to unblock Ukrainian ports.
Texas A&M ag economist Mark Welch tells Brownfield it will likely take some time for large amounts of grain to be made available from Ukraine.
“Even if there are some possibilities of moving that grain around, there are going to be some real challenges gathering the labor, and the trucks, the roads, the infrastructure to be able to do that safely when you’re in a warzone,” Welch said.
He said reopening Ukrainian ports will be key.
“The possibility of some kind of corridor – which might allow some movement of grain, again, out of those southern ports in Ukraine across the Black Sea – if we can negotiate some kind of possibility there; that would go a long way to alleviating what are some real supply concerns,” Welch said.
Welch said an export corridor out of Ukraine would boost competition on the global grain market and limit crop prices.
