MOSCOW, February 16. /TASS/. Supplies of Russian wheat to Africa free of charge are carried out as usual, Russia is fulfilling all declared obligations, President of the Russian Grain Union Arkady Zlochevsky said at a press conference in TASS.

"Everything is fine with it, deliveries are ongoing. We do not take them into account in the total export volumes, they are not even included in the quota - it is a separate item under intergovernmental agreements. As far as I know, about 200,000 tons have already gone to consumers in African countries, and the total volume should be about half a million tons. The remaining volumes are being prepared. We are fulfilling everything we declared, there are no problems with that," he said.

Zlochevsky also noted that no one was harmed by the termination of the grain deal.

"Moreover, during this time, despite analysts’ forecasts, prices (for wheat - TASS) have only fallen," he said.

"As a result of the termination of this deal, we gained quite a lot from the reduction of the discount on our sales. The termination of the transaction brought only advantages. Let me remind you that as part of the transaction, losses from our sales amounted to $1.2 billion due to this very large discount," he said Zlochevsky.

In November 2023, Russian Agriculture Minister Dmitry Patrushev said that Russia would supply up to 200,000 tons of Russian wheat to Africa free of charge until the end of 2023.

About grain deal

The implementation of the grain deal, an agreement on a corridor for ships with Ukrainian grain concluded in July 2022, was terminated on July 17. Russia notified Turkey, Ukraine and the UN of its objection to its extension from July 18. Russian President Vladimir Putin previously noted that the terms of the deal with regard to Russia were not met, despite the efforts of the UN, because Western countries were not going to keep their promises. The Russian leader repeatedly pointed out that the West exported most of the Ukrainian grain to their states, while the deal’s main aim, which was to supply grain to needy countries, including African ones, was never implemented.