The United Nations welcome the “success” of the recent agreement between Kyiv and Moscow to unblock grain exports across the Black Sea. However, to prevent a global food crisis, the UN now also calls for lower food and fertilizer prices.
The agreement between Kyiv and Moscow has made it possible to reduce food prices, the United Nations acknowledges. But now a UN sub-agency says that Russian fertilizer prices must be lowered to avoid a food crisis.
UNCTAD, the UN organization for trade and development, reminded that excessively high fertilizer prices are a major obstacle to normalizing the food market. Prices of synthetic fertilizers have tripled over the past year and a half due to disruptions in supply from Russia, the largest exporter in the world, and rising gas prices, which are essential for their production.
On July 22, 2022, under the auspices of the UN, two agreements were signed between Kyiv and Moscow. One aims to resume Ukrainian grain exports, the other to resume Russian food and fertilizer exports. That agreement expires at the end of November.
The UN hopes it will be renewed, as it is an important addition to addressing the global food crisis. Five million tons have now been shipped. This undoubtedly affected the grain markets. The FAO food price index fell in August 2022 for the fifth consecutive month, reaching its lowest level in seven months.
Ahead of the G20 summit set for November in Indonesia, a meeting of fertilizer producers will be held in Paris to intensify production.