As Ukraine looks to get back on track with its grain shipments, the United Nations has set a goal to move more grain out of the country.
On Wednesday, the U.N. said it is looking to export anywhere from 2 million-5 million tons of Ukrainian grain per month. According to a UN official, this goal is “achievable.”
Frederick Kenney, interim U.N. Coordinator at the Joint Coordination Centre in Istanbul, said the UN expects “a big uptick” in ships applying to transit the grain, which will aid in getting more product out of Ukraine, and quickly.
Kenney also said there has been “tremendous interest” from shipowners, who have been waiting for sales to be finalized so they could start picking up cargo from Ukraine.
Ukraine has been working to export more than 20 million tons of last year’s harvest out of the country so it can make room for the new harvest from this year. Ukraine had to put its grain shipments on hold when its ports were forced to shut down after Russia invaded the country on February 24.
Shipping from the war-torn country was able to resume after Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and the UN signed the safe-passage deal at the end of last month. Since then, some 12 ships have been able to depart from Ukraine, with about 370,000 tons of crop already exported.
