Business leaders worried over Russia's exit from grain deal

The leaders of six major trade bodies in Bangladesh have expressed concerns over disruptions to the global supply chain of wheat following Russia's exit from the Black Sea Grain Initiative on July 17.

Discontinuation of the grain deal will not only cause manmade human catastrophe, but also lead to failures in containing the already sky-rocketing global inflation, they said in a joint statement today.

Md Jashim Uddin, president of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Mahbubur Rahman, president of the International Chamber of Commerce-Bangladesh, and Md Saiful Islam, president of the Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, were among the signatories.

Other signatories include Sameer Sattar, president of the Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Mahbubul Alam, president of the Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and Naser Ezaz Bijoy, president of the Foreign Investors Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Under the deal, about 32 million tonnes of foodstuffs were exported from three Ukrainian ports to 45 countries across three continents, with the proportion of wheat exported through the Black Sea to least developed economies remaining largely unchanged from pre-war levels.

Crucially, the World Food Programme humanitarian operations in Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen will be disrupted and lead to the starvation of millions of people, especially children, the statement said.

Hence, continued facilitation of Ukrainian and Russian exports of food and fertilisers remains crucial to global food security, it added.

The trade bodies also urged the concerned authorities to take steps for extending the agreement.

The Black Sea Grain Initiative, negotiated by the United Nations and Turkey, is an agreement that allows Ukraine to export millions of tonnes of grain through the Black Sea despite the ongoing war with Russia.

The latest two-month extension expired on July 17.