Black Sea grain talks continue as Russia seeks 60-day renewal

Talks continue to extend a deal to allow grain shipments from Ukraine's Black Sea ports ahead of a deadline later this week, the United Nations and Turkey said on Tuesday, after Kyiv rejected a Russian push for a reduced 60-day renewal. Since Russia and Ukraine signed the U.N.-backed Black Sea Grain Initiative in Turkey on July 22, millions of tonnes of grain and other food products have been exported from Ukrainian ports, helping to lower global food prices from record highs.

Talks continue to extend a deal to allow grain shipments from Ukraine's Black Sea ports ahead of a deadline later this week, the United Nations and Turkey said on Tuesday, after Kyiv rejected a Russian push for a reduced 60-day renewal.

Since Russia and Ukraine signed the U.N.-backed Black Sea Grain Initiative in Turkey on July 22, millions of tonnes of grain and other food products have been exported from Ukrainian ports, helping to lower global food prices from record highs. After Russia on Monday suggested allowing the deal to be renewed for 60 days, half the term of the previous renewal, the TASS news agency cited Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko as saying on Tuesday that a deal had been agreed for a 60-day extension.

"Indeed, the deal has been extended - it has been agreed that it has been extended for 60 days," the TASS news agency cited Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko as saying on Tuesday. It was not immediately clear how the deal could be extended for half of the previous duration of 120 days.

Turkey, which facilitated the deal alongside the U.N., said in a defence ministry statement that Moscow had agreed to back a 60-day extension to the deal but that talks continued. A U.N. spokesperson said "informal dialogue" between the organisation and parties to the deal continued, though in-person talks with Russia had ended in Geneva.

Ukraine said it will stick to the terms of the previously agreed deal based on a 120-day duration that can be renewed. "We will follow the agreement strictly," a senior Ukrainian government official told Reuters. The official declined to be identified.

"There is no option to sign the current deal for 60 days only - we know it for sure because we know that the current deal extends automatically for 120 days if there are no objections from any side," Andrey Sizov, head of Sovecon agriculture consultancy, said. "So, if Russia wants the deal to last for 60 days, all the sides would have to sign a new agreement, which seems unlikely as Ukraine has already said that it would not be ready to sign a 60-day deal."

The Kremlin later repeated previous Russian criticism of the deal that it does not address obstacles to its own food and fertiliser exports, with spokesman Dmitry Peskov saying the deal could not "stand on one leg". Russia has said that, although the West has not explicitly targeted its agricultural exports, sanctions on its payments, logistics and insurance industries have created barriers.

An extension of the corridor deal had been widely anticipated by international grain traders and had contributed to recent weakness in prices with U.S. wheat, for example, falling to the lowest level since July 2021 on Friday. Wheat and corn markets, however, have rebounded this week as Moscow's push to extend the deal for just 60 days added to concern it lacked commitment to the pact given accusations by Ukraine that Russia is deliberately slowing down the inspection process.