33 Ships With 719,500 Tons Of Agricultural Products Left Seaports Since Start Of "Grain Corridor"

In the 22 days since the start of the "grain corridor", 33 ships with 719,549 tons of agricultural products have left Ukrainian seaports, and 18 more ships are loading and waiting for departure.

This is stated in the message of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food, Ukrainian News Agency reports.

"Before the war, agriculture, together with other related industries, formed about 20% of the Ukrainian economy. Now, against the background of the decline of other sectors, it will be all 30%, maybe even 35%. That is, 1/3 of our economy is agriculture, which is 70% dependent from exports. We produce such large volumes that it is impossible to consume them on the domestic market," said First Deputy Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food Taras Vysotskyi.

He emphasized that if 3 million tons of agricultural products were exported in July, then 2 million tons were exported in 15 days of August.

"That is, we have to export at least 4 million tons in August, and this is plus USD 250-300 million of foreign exchange earnings in just one month," Vysotskyi said.

Besides, according to him, thanks to the work of the "grain corridor", export prices have leveled off, which gives confidence to Ukrainian farmers that they will not go bankrupt and will be able to cover production costs.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, almost 10 million tons of agricultural products were exported since the beginning of the war.

Ukraine, taking into account the average prices on the world food market, expects to receive at least USD 20 billion from this year's grain exports.

On August 5, the first caravan with Ukrainian grain left the sea ports of Odesa and Chornomorsk.