“RISK FACTOR”
The UN has been saying since Monday that it is doing everything it can to save the agreement, which has helped bring the explosion in food prices since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine under control.
On Friday, UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths repeated that message.
“We continue to engage closely with all parties,” he said.
At the same time, they were “sparing no effort” to resolve the problems raised by Russia over its agreement.
More than 29.1 million tonnes of grain have left Ukraine’s ports since the original deal was signed last July, while only a fraction of the 260,000 tonnes of Russian fertiliser stored in European ports has been released.
In the meantime, wheat and corn prices have returned to their pre-war levels, although oilseeds such as rapeseed and sunflower are much lower.
“For the moment, the market is betting on the fact that it will get an extension of 120 days,” Edward de Saint-Denis, a cereals trader with Plantureux, told AFP.
“If that is the case, the 60 days proposed by Moscow will be used to continue negotiations for a longer extension.”
But Michael Zuzolo, president of Global Commodity Analytics and Consulting, said 60 days was “not enough to charter a vessel and insure its cargo”.
And if the deadline passes with no clear agreement on an extension, “it will be a risk factor”, said Sebastien Poncelet, an analyst with agricultural markets specialist Agritel.
“The markets will take that into account,” he said.
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