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Military operation in Ukraine

Ukraine expects half of last year's harvest in 2022, says minister

The minister also warned that the next soil campaign of winter crops is under serious threat due to the situation around Ukraine

© Nikolai Trishin/TASS

UNITED NATIONS, May 19. /TASS/. Ukraine expects this year’s harvest in the country to total half of that in 2021, Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food Nikolay Solsky said at the Food Security Ministerial organized by the United States on Wednesday.

"This year we expect a harvest 50% of the last year yields," he said.

The minister also warned that "the next soil campaign of winter crops is under serious threat" due to the situation around Ukraine. "Actually, the fate of three harvests will be at stake this summer," he noted.

The global community will be facing an increase in the wheat price to $700 per tonne, Solsky believes. The price of wheat on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange currently stands at around $430 per tonne. "Are we prepared to pay $500, 600 or $700 per tonne of wheat? This situation is critical for the countries in Asia and Africa, which imported grain mainly from Ukraine," the Ukrainian minister emphasized.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said earlier on Wednesday that the global community would not be able to fully solve the issue of food crisis without Russian and Belarusian fertilizers, as well as without Ukrainian grain. Russian products and fertilizers should have full and unlimited access to global markets, he stressed.

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Military operation in Ukraine

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