A halt in exports of agricultural products from the Black Sea region due to the blockade by Russian ships will immediately lead to a food crisis, and not only to an energy crisis due to the war with Russia.

The solution to this problem is a global issue, and not only for Ukraine as one of the largest global agricultural exporters, Ukraine's Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food Roman Leschenko has said.

“I am very sorry that many world analysts and experts write that they are "deeply concerned about food security in Ukraine," but they do not understand that it is not about Ukraine… Ukraine and Russia today provide 30% of world wheat exports, almost 30% of corn and 80% of sunflower oil... The end of the war and the solution of these basic problems is a global issue," the minister said during a press conference with foreign journalists in Kyiv on Thursday.

Leschenko stressed that Ukraine is in the TOP-5 of the world's largest exporters of agricultural products and provides food for over 400 million people, excluding its population. However, the timely fulfillment by it of all its contractual obligations was violated by the blockade of Ukrainian seaports, through which about 80% of the country's exports pass. Due to the inability of Ukraine to supply agricultural products to foreign markets, the countries of Africa, the Middle East and Southwest Asia will be especially affected.

"Countries such as Lebanon, Libya, Yemen, Egypt, Syria and dozens of others have a budget for food with stocks of 3-6 months. Some have stocks for only month. The wave of the food crisis will lead to instability in many regions of the world, hunger, change of political regimes, waves of migration that will affect the whole world," Leschenko said.

The minister stressed the fallacy of some experts' attempts to "localize" the war in Ukraine, calling the conflict its own problem. The blockade of Ukrainian ports and the restrictions recently introduced by Russia on grain exports will lead to the fact that 30% of the total volume of food wheat will disappear from the world market at once, which will inevitably lead to a global food crisis.

According to Leschenko, even the price of $500/tonne of wheat on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange will not solve this problem, since the necessary volumes of grain will not be available on the market due to the loss of agricultural products from the Black Sea region.

The minister explained that the current crisis in the grain market is similar to the situation with the energy crisis in 2021-2022, when spot prices for natural gas exceeded the limits of possible market pricing, but it was impossible to buy it on the exchange due to its physical absence.

"Today we are in the problem of both the energy crisis and the food crisis, which in the short term will inevitably lead to a global economic crisis. Ending the war and resolving the crises is a global issue," he said.

Alex Lissitsa, General Director of the IMC agricultural holding, earlier said that if the aggression of the Russian Federation continues, Ukraine in the 2022/2023 marketing year (MY, July-June) will not be able to export 50 million tonnes of grain crops and will sow only 30-50% of the planned area.

"Ukraine, together with Russia, supplies about 30% of wheat to global markets. Ukraine occupies a leading position in the export of corn, sunflower oil and other food products to the EU. In general, the country provides almost 14% of the global food market. And this means that if now if the war is not stopped and Ukraine will not be weeded out and will not be able to supply 50 million tonnes of grain to global markets, the poorest countries in the world will be left without food. That is, hundreds of thousands of people will simply be doomed to starvation," Lissitsa explained.

A similar opinion was expressed by Petro Melnyk, the president of the Ukrainian Agribusiness Club. He called on the world community to stop Russia's aggression against Ukraine by refusing to do business in Russia until April this year, as the continuation of the war would disrupt the sowing campaign in both countries and lead to a significant food shortage on the world market.