Dr. Eren Günhan Ulusoy, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Ulusoy Flour and Söke Flour, spoke about the termination of the Grain Corridor Agreement, which was signed to enable Ukraine and Russia to deliver their grains and other food products to the world markets via the Black Sea, and asked, “The Grain Corridor has ended. What will happen now?”

In his statement, Ulusoy gave the following information:

“We have been following the continuation of the agreement until now. As it neared its end on July 17, we were also expecting the continuation of the agreement. The agreement had a significant impact on balancing global grain prices, especially in the early stages. But as we delved into the details of the shipments made under the agreement, we observed that the shipments were slowing down day by day and operations were especially slowed down in recent periods. Since the corridor had nearly come to a standstill due to the slowdowns, the market had already reflected this in its pricing for a while.

Looking at the timing, it is harvest time in the Northern Hemisphere. Many countries have secured their internal supplies for this period. Production and consumption are being observed to be close to each other this year. Therefore, in the short term, that is until the next harvest season from the 2023-2024 season, we do not see the closure of the corridor as a major threat. In the long term, some countries may experience access problems due to shocks related to supply and price caused by increasing prices if production in Ukraine cannot reach other countries.

Global climate change, which is a long-term problem, is not expected to impact prices in the short term in a very negative way. However, we believe that drought and global climate change will pose a serious problem over the next decade or so.”