WFP / UKRAINE PORTS

Russia and Ukraine combined account for 30 percent of the global wheat exports and 20 percent of global maize exports. Any disruption in production or supply could drive prices up, affecting millions of vulnerable families, especially in hunger hotspots. WFP

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:03:44
• Production Date: 5 May 2022
• Asset Language: English
• Personal Subject: DAVID BEASLEY
• Corporate Name: WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME - WFP
• Subject Topical: FOOD SECURITY
• Geographic Subject: UKRAINE
• MAMS Id: 2733831
• Parent Id: 2733831
• Alternate Title: unifeed220505c

Description

STORY: WFP / UKRAINE PORTS
TRT: 3:44
SOURCE: WFP
RESTRICTIONS: PLEASE CREDIT ON SCREEN
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: SEE SHOTLIST

Shotlist

26/27 APRIL 2022, ODESA, UKRAINE
1. Various shots, cleaning debris from missile strike on apartment building. On 23April a missile hit this apartment building near Odesa airport wounding at least 18 people and killing 8 people including a grandmother, her daughter and baby granddaughter
2. Various shots, tractor plows fields near Lviv. Farmers are preparing fields to plant corn and wheat for the June harvest but with silos full from the previous harvest and ports closed there is nowhere for it to go

28 APRIL 2022, STARE SELO, UKRAINE
3. Various shots, full Grain Silos

27 APRIL 2022, NEAR CHORNOMORSK PORT, ODESA, UKRAINE
4. SOUNDBITE (English) David Beasley, Executive Director, WFP:
“This grain feeds around 400million people around the world and these ports are shut down because of this war. We need to get the ports open, operational otherwise we are going to have catastrophe onto top of catastrophe. Millions of people around the world starving to death and we need these ports open and we need it now.”
5. Various shots, wheat being offloaded from ships at the port of Hodeidah. The port is Yemen’s lifeline and the only entry point of food and fuel into the country. Yemen imports 90% of its food needs. More than 1/2 of it’s wheat comes from Ukraine or Russia

26 JULY 2018, HODEIDAH PORT, YEMEN
6. Various shots, wheat and other food from Ukraine being distributed by WFP to people affected by the conflict in Ethiopia.

30 MARCH 2022, AMHHARA, ETHIOPIA
7. Various shots, bakery commissioned by WFP to produce bread for 10,000 people/day who have been displaced by the fighting.

26 APRIL 2022, ODESA, UKRAINE
8. Various shots, WFP bread being distributed to people displaced by the fighting.

27 APRIL 2022, ODESA, UKRAINE
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Alexi, sailor on cargo ship:
“Food is also nearly finished and the price of food is very high and if you don’t have money..if you don’t have cash then you cannot buy it.”
10. Various shots, WFP food rations containing pasta, canned meat, cooking oil, salt and rice being distributed to families displaced by fighting

Storyline

Russia and Ukraine combined account for 30 percent of the global wheat exports and 20 percent of global maize exports. Any disruption in production or supply could drive prices up, affecting millions of vulnerable families, especially in hunger hotspots.

Ukraine is a food-surplus country, exporting the majority of grains it produces, as well as other key food commodities. Key exports include maize, wheat and sunflower oil.

Only one month after the war in Ukraine broke out, export prices for wheat and maize had risen by 22 percent and 20 percent respectively, on top of steep rises in 2021 and early 2022.

These hikes are affecting local food prices and, through these, access to food, especially for millions of people who are already under stress given very high levels of food inflation in their countries.

WFP is calling for the re-opening of Black Sea Ports: to protect Ukrainian agricultural production and enable exports that are critical to Ukraine’s economy and global food security, and to allow for the safe passage of assistance into Odesa

Sea access via Odesa and other ports is currently blocked. As a Black Sea port, the Port of Odesa is a critical route through which food is exported globally, including to numerous countries particularly vulnerable to food insecurity.

Prior to the onset of conflict, 98 percent of grain exports from Ukraine were transported via the Black Sea.

The pre-crisis primacy of Ukraine’s Black Sea ports is such that alternative export routes do not yet have sufficient infrastructure to be an immediately viable alternative. (Other export routes such as via the Danube river, rail and road are therefore congested or otherwise restricted).

In the first eight months of the current crop marketing year (1 July 2021 – 28 February 2022), close to 51 million metric tons of grain were exported via Ukraine’s seven Black Sea ports.

The Port of Odesa ranked fourth as compared to Ukraine’s other Black Sea ports in this regard, with over 5.5 million metric tons of grain exported via the port during this period.