The Black Sea Grain Initiative (BSGI), also known as the Black Sea Initiative, on facilitating exports of Ukrainian food products and fertilisers, brokered in July 2022 by the UN and Türkiye with Ukraine and the Russian Federation as signatories, had been a lifeline for global food security, and a beacon of hope in a troubled world.
A separate agreement, the Memorandum of Understanding, was signed for three years between the UN and the Russian Federation to facilitate the export of Russian food products and fertilisers. The Initiative allowed for exports of grain and foodstuffs from three key Ukrainian ports in the Black Sea – Odesa, Chornomorsk, and Yuzhny/Pivdennyi.
A Joint Coordination Centre (JCC) was established to monitor the deal and included representatives from the Russian Federation, Türkiye, Ukraine, and the UN. The JCC facilitated the safe passage of commercial vessels via a maritime humanitarian corridor carrying the grain and foodstuffs in and out of the three Ukrainian ports.
The Russian Federation did not agree to the renewal of the Initiative after 18 July 2023 and withdrew security guarantees for navigation in the northwestern part of the Black Sea.
In his address to the General Assembly on 19 September 2023, UN Secretary-General António Guterres stressed, “The world badly needs Ukrainian food and Russian food and fertilizers to stabilize markets and guarantee food security and I will not give up on my efforts to make it happen.”
A deeper dive into the BSGI
As the UN remains steadfast in its efforts to continue facilitating exports from the Black Sea, let’s take a closer look at what the Initiative achieved in the 12 months of its implementation.
The BSGI enabled the safe transportation of nearly 33 million metric tons of grains and other foodstuffs from Ukraine to 45 countries across three continents.
By June 2023 the had fallen more than 23% below the record high reached in March 2022, according to the UN chief.
Corn was by far the most exported commodity under the deal, with over 16.8 M metric tons shipped followed by wheat at 8.9 M metric tons.
Exports by Commodity
China was the main export destination receiving close to 8M metric tons. The country imported close to 5.8M tons of corn, 1.5M tons of sunflower meal, 370K tons of sunflower oil and 340K tons of barley.
Spain and Türkiye also imported a large share of Ukraine’s agricultural products, around 6M and 3.2M metric tons respectively.
Exports by Destination
Overall, higher-income countries purchased the largest share of exports accounting for approximately 44% of shipments. Lower-middle and higher-middle income countries combined received 54% (17% and 37% respectively). Lower-income countries received around 2.5% of the total, with Ethiopia (280K), Yemen (260K) and Afghanistan (130K) topping the list in this income group.
Eight per cent of the wheat exported was bought by the UN World Food Programme (), which transported 725K tons to people in need in Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen.
Exports by Income Group
Regionally, most of the food products were shipped to the Asia Pacific region, which received around 15M metric tons of grain. Approximately 13M metric tons of grain was shipped to the Western Europe and Others group. African countries received around 4M metric tons of grain, with Egypt (1.6M), Tunisia (710K) and Libya (560K) receiving the most. The main exports to African countries were corn and wheat.
Exports – Africa
Over the course of the Initiative, 730 vessels made 1004 trips transporting 32.9M metric tons of food commodities. The peak month was October 2022 with 180 trips made and 4.2M metric tons exported. Chornomorsk was the port with the highest number of outbound shipments. The ship that transported the most grain was the STAR SAPPHIRE (200K metric tons over the course of 3 trips), operating under the Marshall Islands flag.
Exports by Month
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