Ukraine has an alternative grain storage plan in case it fails to agree on deblocking ports. This was reported by First Deputy Minister of Agrarian Policy Taras Vysotsky on the air of a nationwide marathon.
"The very idea of transporting grain by sea is important and necessary, without it, we will not be able to realize all our export potential", – the deputy minister said. – And, of course, this requires several factors: enough antiship weapons and guaranteed military support".
Vysotsky noted that the Ukrainian authorities continue to work together with the UN to resolve the issue of deblocking the sea.
"When there are details finally agreed upon by Ukraine, we will be able to inform about it", - he noted.
According to Vysotsky, it is still not easy to predict how long it will take to clear the mines of the coast: the timing depends on the stage of the war.
According to the deputy minister, in the event of a lack of exports through ports, Ukraine is already preparing additional storage facilities to be able to store both last year's product stock and the new crop, which will be actively harvested already in a month.
Given the transitional stock from last year and the forecast for this year's yield, according to Vysotsky, there may be a shortage of storage capacity in the range of 10-15 million tons. Therefore, as the deputy minister emphasized, as a "plan B" for storing grain, in case of impossibility of quick export, mobile elevator banks and sleeves are imported in order to have potential equipment for storing these additional tons in reserve.
Earlier, it was reported that the first batch of Ukrainian grain arrived in Spain via a new route.
In addition, Taras Vysotsky reported that Ukraine during martial law limited the export of buckwheat, rye and oats.