A grain ship, Razoni, with 26,000 tonnes of corn for poultry feed, arrives in Tripoli in northern Lebanon. It is the first ship to be able to leave the port of Odessa, which has been blocked since the start of the conflict between Ukraine and Russia in late January.
Highly anticipated, Razoni’s arrival is good news for many countries in the Middle East and Africa that are threatened with rising food prices and are at risk of starvation due to this crisis. The share of Razoni was guaranteed by Turkey after indirect negotiations between kyiv, Ankara and Moscow. The agreement is made for a period of 4 months. Followed by another grain ship bound for another country.
For Lebanon, this first shipment, if not made from wheat when the country is short on raw materials, is also good news. This may slightly reduce inflationary pressures on basic needs prices, but will not be sufficient to curb the impact. Beirut had previously planned to import wheat, mainly from India, at much higher costs, while the population suffered, in addition to rising prices for a packet of bread, a shortage of this staple food. Facing the economic crisis, in fact, bread is the staple food of most of the population, whose purchasing power has fallen by more than 92%. As a reminder, 85% of the Lebanese population now live below the poverty line and a third are even very poor.
In addition, the resumption of Ukrainian imports also allows international agencies such as the World Food Program (WFP) to replenish their stocks and particularly benefit cedar countries. WFP has announced the purchase of the next shipment of 30,000 tonnes of wheat, the destination or departure of which has not yet been determined.
