To create a humanitarian corridor in the Black Sea to organize the supply of millions of tons of grain "blocked" in Ukraine, U.S. congressional lawmakers have called on the Biden administration, according to Politico.
Previously, Biden had said that Washington, along with its Western allies, was seeking opportunities to return Ukrainian grain to the global market in order to achieve price reductions for this resource and avoid a food crisis.
Millions of tons of wheat, corn and sunflower oil are currently "locked up" in Ukraine, Politico argues, with local farmers preparing for the harvest but will have no places to store them, in case they fail to ship them abroad. The report sees the main problem as the shutdown of Ukrainian ports due to Putin's war in the region.
According to Politico, U.S. lawmakers and international observers believe the sea corridor is the only way to get raw materials to market. Washington now has a "narrow window of action" as the situation in Ukraine deteriorates, according to a bipartisan group of lawmakers.
Biden administration officials said the White House is exploring options for managing grain supplies. However, Politico writes, creating land routes for the delivery of Ukrainian grain will require high financial costs and take a long time. Moreover, overland transport is still unable to make deliveries in the volumes transported via sea routes.
It should be noted that Ukraine and Russia account for 30% of world production of wheat and barley, a fifth of corn and more than half of sunflower oil, as UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres recalled.
Source: Proto Thema
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