Ukraine could export 60 million tonnes of grain in eight to nine months if its ports were not blockaded, but Russia’s strike on the port of Odesa showed it will definitely not be that easy, an economic adviser to the Ukrainian president said.
Ukraine could earn $10bn by exporting 20 million tonnes of grain in silos in addition to 40 million tonnes from its new harvest, economic adviser Oleh Ustenko said on television.
The harvest totals 60 million tonnes, of which 20 million are for domestic consumption, he explained.
“If the ports were unblocked now and we say we need to move 60 million tonnes of grain… then we would transport 60 million tonnes of grain within eight to nine months,” he said.
“But with the way they are opening now and what Russia is doing in the Black Sea, yesterday’s strike shows that it definitely won’t work that way,” he said.