Aerial view of the Nika-Tera port terminal at Mykolaiv, Ukraine from a 2020 corporate video. (Nika-Tera video screengrab via YouTube)

Russian attack destroys warehouses of major Ukrainian port terminal, owner says

Kyiv | Reuters — Russian shelling destroyed the warehouses of one of Ukraine’s largest agricultural commodities terminals in the Black Sea port of Mykolaiv over the weekend, authorities and the facility’s owner said Tuesday. The attack came at a time Turkey is trying to develop a U.N.-backed plan to start grain exports from Ukraine’s ports, […] Read more



File photo of barley being loaded for export at the Black Sea port of Mykolaiv, Ukraine on July 9, 2013. (Photo: Reuters/Vincent Mundy)

Ukraine envoy says Turkey among destinations of grain stolen by Russia

Ankara | Reuters — Kyiv’s ambassador to Ankara said on Friday Turkish buyers were among those receiving grain that Russia stole from Ukraine, adding he has sought Turkey’s help to identify and capture individuals responsible for the shipments. Russia and Ukraine account for nearly a third of global wheat supplies, while Russia also heavily exports […] Read more

File photo of Black Sea port facilities at Odesa, Ukraine. (Leskas/iStock/Getty Images)

U.N. aid chief in Moscow to discuss Ukraine grain exports

Russia says will guarantee grain vessels' safety

Reuters — U.N. aid chief Martin Griffiths is in Moscow on Thursday and Friday to discuss clearing the way for exports of grain and other food from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports, a U.N. spokesperson said. Griffiths will meet Russian officials days after another senior U.N. official, Rebecca Grynspan, had “constructive” talks in Moscow with Russian […] Read more


File photo of barley being loaded for export at the Black Sea port of Mykolaiv, Ukraine on July 9, 2013. (Photo: Reuters/Vincent Mundy)

U.N. had ‘constructive’ talks in Moscow on Russian grain, fertilizer exports

U.S. could offer 'comfort letters' to shippers, insurers

United Nations | Reuters — A senior U.N. official had “constructive discussions” in Moscow with Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Belousov on facilitating Russian grain and fertilizer exports to global markets, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said on Tuesday. The U.N. official, Rebecca Grynspan, is now in Washington for talks on the same issue “with […] Read more

CBOT July 2022 wheat (candlesticks) with 20- and 50-day moving averages (blue and black lines) and MGEX and K.C. July 2022 wheats (yellow and orange lines). (Barchart)

U.S. grains: Wheat drops as Russia considers Ukrainian grain exports

Corn, soybeans also down

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago wheat futures fell on Tuesday, after Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed readiness to allow blocked Ukrainian grain vessels from Black Sea ports. Corn was pressured by falling wheat, while profit-taking pulled soybeans off life-of-contract highs to finish lower. The most-active wheat contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) fell […] Read more


Cargo ships are docked in Ukraine’s Black Sea port of Odesa on Nov. 4, 2016. (File photo: Reuters/Valentyn Ogirenko)

Kremlin says Putin ready to facilitate grain exports via Ukraine ports

Russia says will work with Turkey

London | Reuters — President Vladimir Putin said Monday that Russia was ready to facilitate the unhindered export of grain from Ukrainian ports in co-ordination with Turkey, according to a Kremlin readout of talks with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan. Besides the death and devastation sown by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the war and the West’s […] Read more

CBOT July 2022 corn (candlesticks) with 20- and 50-day moving averages (yellow and orange lines). (Barchart)

U.S. grains: Corn, soybean, wheat futures up ahead of holiday

Wheat gains as U.S. rejects easing sanctions

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Board of Trade corn and soybean futures rose on Friday, supported by forecasts for rain that could slow the tail end of planting in the U.S. Midwest. Wheat futures also were higher, with traders exiting bearish positions ahead of the U.S. Memorial Day holiday weekend. U.S. markets will be closed […] Read more


Yara’s fertilizer terminal at Stockton, California. (Sebastian Braum photo, Yara.com)

Fertilizer maker Yara says world faces extreme food supply shock

Sanctions cut global fertilizer supply 15 per cent, company says

Davos, Switzerland | Reuters — Norwegian fertilizer giant Yara says donors urgently need to close the U.N.’s $10 billion food programme funding gap to avoid a catastrophe as sanctions on Russian fertilizers and Ukraine’s grain export problems have created an extreme global shock. “The world has realized that food can be a weapon and it […] Read more

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken listens to U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres during a “Global Food Security Call to Action” meeting of foreign ministers at U.N. headquarters in New York on May 18, 2022. (Photo: Reuters/Eduardo Munoz)

U.N. chief in talks on restoring Ukraine grain exports

Contact made amid global food crisis

United Nations | Reuters — U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Wednesday that he is in “intense contact” with Russia, Ukraine, Turkey, the United States and the European Union in an effort to restore Ukrainian grain export as a global food crisis worsens. “I am hopeful, but there is still a way to go,” said […] Read more