UK to help export grain from Ukraine

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Thursday Britain was considering offering insurance to ships to move millions of tonnes of grain stuck in Ukraine.

“There is a job of work to be done. We are working with the Turks and other European friends and allies to see what we can do,” Johnson told reporters in an interview during a visit to Rwanda for a Commonwealth summit.

London’s insurance market has placed the entire region on its high-risk list meaning soaring costs for shipments.

Johnson said Britain was considering all options when asked whether the government could provide sovereign guarantees for shipping insurance.

“What the UK possibly has to offer, most of all, is expertise when it comes to maritime insurance, and a lot of expertise in moving goods through should we say contested areas of the sea,” he said.

British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said separately on Thursday that urgent action needed to be taken within the next month, ahead of the next harvest, to maintain supply.

also read: NATO warns of long Ukraine war

Russia’s February 24 invasion of Ukraine and blockade of its Black Sea ports has prevented the country, traditionally one of the world’s top food producers, from exporting much of the more than 20 million tonnes of grain stored in its silos.

This has helped push food prices to record highs and left tens of millions of people struggling to eat, a crisis which Western officials say could last two years.

Turkey is trying to broker talks between the United Nations, Ukraine and Russia to create a possible safe sea corridor in the Black Sea, but Moscow wants some Western sanctions lifted first to facilitate its grain and fertiliser exports.

Reuters/Zainab Sa’id