No Ukrainian food yet via Odessa port to hungry countries;

The freighter Razoni, which last week was the first to export under an international treaty from Odessa with a cargo of Ukrainian grain, is not moored in a port in Lebanon, but is anchored off the coast of Turkey.

The Lebanese original buyer no longer wants the cargo ordered five months ago. The shipper is now looking for new customers.

The Razoni was on his way to Tripoli after being inspected in Istanbul, but never arrived in Lebanon. Shortly after leaving Istanbul, the course was corrected, followed by a stopover off the Turkish coast. On Tuesday, the Razoni finally anchored off the port of Mersin (Turkey) in the Mediterranean Sea.

There is also more clarity about the cargo: it concerns more than 26,000 tons of maize for animal feed, not suitable for human consumption. Given the enormous bread price crisis currently prevailing in Lebanon, the shipment of maize for animal feed is called a mockery by Lebanese. 

The country, which lost countless storage silos after the explosion disaster in the port of Beirut two years ago, until recently obtained 70 percent of its grain from Ukraine. Wheat flour in Lebanon now costs double what it did before the start of the Russian war in Ukraine. 

The debate over the Razoni was also denounced by the chairman of the food import consortium. “In this severe food crisis, the country urgently needs wheat, not corn.” The International Grains Agreement has recently been welcomed as a turning point in the global food security crisis. UN Secretary-General António Guterres even spoke of a "beacon of hope". 

But the cargoes and destinations of a dozen other freighters that departed from Black Sea ports last week are now also known.

Traditional import countries such as Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya have been waiting for months for shiploads of grain due to the drought. But so far, no Ukrainian grain exports have reached the hungry of this world, although more than 270,000 tons of goods have already left the port of Odessa. 

The sailings so far from Ukrainian ports show different cargoes and other destinations: maize for Turkey and South Korea, flour for China or sunflower oil for Italy. Ships have also left for Ireland and Great Britain with previously ordered shipments of sunflower meal and soybeans.

Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov says the ports will soon be able to handle 100 ships per month.