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End of grain deal won't cause food crisis thanks to Russia's supplies

 Published: 15:02, 19 July 2023

End of grain deal won't cause food crisis thanks to Russia's supplies

The suspension of the Black Sea Grain Initiative will not lead to a food crisis and an increase in grain prices thanks to sufficient supplies from Russia, an Italian newspaper notes on Tuesday adding that grain exports from Russia are close to all time high.

According to Corriere della Sera newspaper, Russia supplies a large amount of grain to the market at reduced prices, which contributes to a decrease in global prices, so the rise in food prices that was observed a year ago has ended.

For this reason, the forecast of "food apocalypse" is wrong, the newspaper notes. The publication also reminds that African countries are not the main recipients of Ukrainian grain.

The grain deal came to an end on July 17. Russia refused to extend it again because the part of the deal envisaging the removal of obstacles for Russian agricultural exports had not been implemented.

Apart from that, Moscow has repeatedly stressed that the bulk of grain that was meant to be supplied to the poorest counties was shipped to Western countries. Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said that Moscow was ready to resurrect the deal but only after its part related to obligations to Moscow was fulfilled.