Biden: Temporary warehouses set up in Poland, etc. to export grain to Ukraine

The United States is likely to build temporary granaries along the border with Ukraine, including Poland, to help export grain from Ukraine.

According to Reuters on the 14th (local time), U.S. President Joe Biden held an AFL-CIO meeting in Philadelphia on the 14th (local time) to store grains that have been stagnant after the war to alleviate the global food crisis. He said that he would create a temporary storage that could be used.

The Ukrainian government has been storing grain in silos after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and blockade of the Black Sea port made it difficult to export grain. Currently, about 20 million tons of grain are piled up here.

With the war escalating and shipping lanes still blocked, Ukraine feared it was running out of storage for freshly harvested crops. It seems that the US has announced such a plan.

This is because the prices of grain, cooking oil, fuel, and fertilizer are skyrocketing around the world as export routes are blocked due to war. Russia and Ukraine account for a third of the world’s wheat supply, Ukraine is a major exporter of corn and sunflower oil, and Russia is a key fertilizer exporter.

“We are in close consultation with European countries to stabilize prices by supplying the 20 million tons of grain tied up in Ukraine to the market,” Biden said.

The United States is considering moving grain by land. After the war, Ukraine and Russia have landed mines in the Black Sea, which poses a great safety risk.

President Biden noted that Ukraine’s railway standards differ from those of other European countries, which means that grain must be moved across the border to other trains. “The grain can be moved to temporary storage at the border and then transported by freight vehicles in Europe,” he explains.

Ukraine’s Ministry of Agriculture said on the same day that it was considering the provision of temporary storage to help European countries preserve crops and later supply them to the market, but did not comment on specific progress.

Ukraine still believes that shipping via the Black Sea is the best way to quickly resume grain exports.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is said to be preparing for so-called ‘package negotiations’ to resume both Ukraine’s and Russia’s exports.