Reading Time: 6 minutes I remember watching the start of the 1970s BBC series The World at War. The screen showed the wreckage of a French village. Over it, Lawrence Olivier entoned, “Down this road in 1944, the soldiers came. When they left, a community which had lived for a thousand years was dead.” If such a documentary was […] Read more
Watching a new world order unfold
How much damage is 2022 doing to global supply chains for equipment manufacturers?
Ukraine not ready to export grain via Belarus, Zelenskiy says
Reading Time: < 1 minute Kyiv | Reuters — Ukraine is not ready to agree to a plan to export its grain by rail across Belarus for shipment via the Baltic Sea to bypass Russia’s blockade of its Black Sea ports, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Monday. Zelenskiy told a news conference in the capital Kyiv that there could be […] Read more
Ukraine envoy says Turkey among destinations of grain stolen by Russia
Reading Time: < 1 minute Ankara | Reuters — Kyiv’s ambassador to Ankara said on Friday Turkish buyers were among those receiving grain that Russia stole from Ukraine, adding he has sought Turkey’s help to identify and capture individuals responsible for the shipments. Russia and Ukraine account for nearly a third of global wheat supplies, while Russia also heavily exports […] Read more
U.N. aid chief in Moscow to discuss Ukraine grain exports
Russia says will guarantee grain vessels' safety
Reading Time: 2 minutes Reuters — U.N. aid chief Martin Griffiths is in Moscow on Thursday and Friday to discuss clearing the way for exports of grain and other food from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports, a U.N. spokesperson said. Griffiths will meet Russian officials days after another senior U.N. official, Rebecca Grynspan, had “constructive” talks in Moscow with Russian […] Read more
U.N. had ‘constructive’ talks in Moscow on Russian grain, fertilizer exports
U.S. could offer 'comfort letters' to shippers, insurers
Reading Time: 2 minutes United Nations | Reuters — A senior U.N. official had “constructive discussions” in Moscow with Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Belousov on facilitating Russian grain and fertilizer exports to global markets, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said on Tuesday. The U.N. official, Rebecca Grynspan, is now in Washington for talks on the same issue “with […] Read more
U.S. grains: Wheat drops as Russia considers Ukrainian grain exports
Corn, soybeans also down
Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — Chicago wheat futures fell on Tuesday, after Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed readiness to allow blocked Ukrainian grain vessels from Black Sea ports. Corn was pressured by falling wheat, while profit-taking pulled soybeans off life-of-contract highs to finish lower. The most-active wheat contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) fell […] Read more
Kremlin says Putin ready to facilitate grain exports via Ukraine ports
Russia says will work with Turkey
Reading Time: 2 minutes London | Reuters — President Vladimir Putin said Monday that Russia was ready to facilitate the unhindered export of grain from Ukrainian ports in co-ordination with Turkey, according to a Kremlin readout of talks with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan. Besides the death and devastation sown by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the war and the West’s […] Read more
U.S. grains: Corn, soybean, wheat futures up ahead of holiday
Wheat gains as U.S. rejects easing sanctions
Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Board of Trade corn and soybean futures rose on Friday, supported by forecasts for rain that could slow the tail end of planting in the U.S. Midwest. Wheat futures also were higher, with traders exiting bearish positions ahead of the U.S. Memorial Day holiday weekend. U.S. markets will be closed […] Read more
Fertilizer maker Yara says world faces extreme food supply shock
Sanctions cut global fertilizer supply 15 per cent, company says
Reading Time: 2 minutes Davos, Switzerland | Reuters — Norwegian fertilizer giant Yara says donors urgently need to close the U.N.’s $10 billion food programme funding gap to avoid a catastrophe as sanctions on Russian fertilizers and Ukraine’s grain export problems have created an extreme global shock. “The world has realized that food can be a weapon and it […] Read more
U.N. chief in talks on restoring Ukraine grain exports
Contact made amid global food crisis
Reading Time: 3 minutes United Nations | Reuters — U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Wednesday that he is in “intense contact” with Russia, Ukraine, Turkey, the United States and the European Union in an effort to restore Ukrainian grain export as a global food crisis worsens. “I am hopeful, but there is still a way to go,” said […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
