RIYADH: Ukraine’s new agriculture minister Mykola Solskyi on Saturday said Ukraine’s ability to export grains was getting worse by the day and would only improve if the war with Russia ended.
Speaking in a televised briefing, Solskyi said Ukraine, one of the world’s top grain producers, would typically be exporting 4-5 million tons of grain per month — a volume that has fallen to just a few hundred thousand tons.
“The impact on the global market is direct, dramatic, and large. And it continues. Every day the situation will become more and more difficult,” he said.
AFDB raises $1 billion
The African Development Bank, or AfDB, aims to raise $1 billion to rapidly ramp up agricultural production in Africa and stave off a potential food crisis brought on by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, its president told Reuters on Friday.
“Already, coming out of COVID, we have 24 million people falling further into extreme poverty, and that’s going to worsen the situation,” said AfDB President Akinwumi Adesina in an interview.
To avoid a food crisis, he said the AfDB was planning to launch an emergency food production plan that would focus on rapidly boosting wheat, maize, rice, and soybean.
Gold demand resilient
Demand for safe-haven assets, including gold and the Swiss franc, remained resilient as the conflict in Ukraine continued.
On Friday, Spot gold was up 0.2 percent at $1,961.99 per ounce. US gold futures were flat at $1,963.40.