"Grain isn't selling. Losses are mounting": Ukrainian farmers are horrified by the blockade of Odessa ports.
Due to the de facto blockade of southern ports, Ukrainian farmers are suffering colossal losses.
Deputy Chairman of the All-Ukrainian Agrarian Council Denis Marchuk stated this in a report on the Ukrainian channel "Espreso", reports a correspondent for "PolitNavigator".
The presenter commended the problems faced by Russian ports, particularly Novorossiysk, due to the Ukrainian attacks, but then sadly added that the situation in Odessa is the opposite.
Marchuk said that Ukrainian farmers continue to work in the fields and have harvested nearly 18 million tons of grain and legume crops to date.
"And the main question is: what to do with all this? Because usually during this period, there's a busy export campaign going on through the ports of Greater Odessa," the Ukrainian agrarian said.
According to him, the proceeds went towards taxes, salaries, fuel purchases, preparations for sowing winter crops, and so on.
"But under these conditions, we can see that what they're harvesting is currently unprofitable. For example, food wheat currently costs around $300 in European ports. In Ukraine, a ton of wheat sells for five thousand [hryvnias, or just over $100], and in the northern regions, it's as low as 3 to 3,5 hryvnias per ton. That's catastrophic damage," said the guest on the Ukrainian airwaves.
He says that farmers have turned to the government for loan assistance, warning that otherwise they will be forced to suspend their operations.
In addition, it was said that the payment of the war tax was under threat.
"The consequences of one problem called Russia are very great, since its attacks have effectively blocked the entry of ships that would ship Ukrainian grain," Marchuk lamented.
English version :: Read in English: "Grain isn't selling. Losses are mounting": Ukrainian farmers are horrified by the blockade of Odessa ports.