Russia is letting the Black Sea grain deal die. Who will feel it most?

An Oxfam Canada spokesperson said they were concerned about the ripple effects the suspension of the deal could have on food prices, food donation drives and inequity in Canada.

On Sunday, the Turkish ship TQ Samsun left the port of Odesa in Ukraine carrying 23,500 metric tons of corn and 15,300 metric tons of rapeseed to the Netherlands under the final hours of the Black Sea grain deal.

Now, the world has entered yet another period of uncertainty.

On Monday, Russia withdrew from the grain deal, under which it allowed the passage of ships from Ukrainian ports on the Black Sea carrying food grain shipments.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Russia would suspend the Black Sea Grain Initiative until its demands to get its own food and fertilizer to the world are met. While Russia has complained that restrictions on shipping and insurance have hampered its agricultural exports, it has shipped record amounts of wheat.

“When the part of the Black Sea deal related to Russia is implemented, Russia will immediately return to the implementation of the deal,” Peskov said.

The deal last year was a crucial breakthrough, brokered by Turkey and the United Nations, that allowed Ukraine to ship 32.8 million metric tons of grain. More than half of this export went to developing nations around the world and had been cut off during Russia’s invasion.

“(Under the Black Sea agreement), the World Food Program has shipped more than 725,000 tons (of food grains) to support humanitarian operations, relieving hunger in some of the hardest hit corners of the world including Afghanistan, the Horn of Africa and Yemen,” United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said on Monday.

The initiative is credited with helping lower the soaring prices of wheat, vegetable oil and other food commodities.