![The organization overseeing the export of agricultural products from Ukraine](https://eaglenewsfeed.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Ukraine-grain-ship.jpg)
The organization overseeing the export of agricultural products from Ukraine said that more than 781 ships have transported 22.9 million metric tons of goods so far.
Before Moscow’s full-scale invasion of its ex-Soviet neighbor last year, Ukraine and Russia accounted for almost a quarter of global grain exports, until those shipments came to a severe halt for nearly six months.
The Black Sea Grain Initiative, a deal brokered in July among Ukraine, Russia, Turkey, and the United Nations, eased Russia’s naval blockade and reopened three key Ukrainian ports.
The deal between the signatories is set to expire in a little over a week.
As of October 19, 2022, the total tonnage of grain and other foodstuffs exported through the initiative had reached almost 8 million metric tons.
“The UN-led Initiative has helped to stabilize and subsequently lower global food prices and move precious grain from one of the world’s breadbaskets to the tables of those in need,” the report said.
Maize and wheat account for more than 70 percent of the nearly eight million tons of grain that have left Ukrainian ports by 2022.
But wheat exports to LDCs between January and September last year totaled less than 1 million tons.
This implies an export gap of 1.2 million tons with respect to 2021. More needs to be done to match previous levels of exports.