Wheat Prices Up in US After Russia Exits Deal

Wheat prices have continued to rise in the United States after Russia exited an agreement to export grain from Ukraine earlier this week, The Hill reported Thursday.

Russia announced on Monday that it was suspending the Black Sea Grain Initiative, an agreement that allowed Ukraine to export wheat to Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. A Kremlin spokesperson said that the suspension would not be lifted until Russia’s demands to export food and fertilizer are met.

“When the part of the Black Sea deal related to Russia is implemented, Russia will immediately return to the implementation of the deal,” spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Monday.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken predicted after the announcement that grain prices would rise due to the decision.

“So the result of Russia’s action today — weaponizing food, using it as a tool, as a weapon in its war against Ukraine — will be to make food harder to come by in places that desperately need it, and have prices rise,” Blinken said Monday. “We’re already seeing the market react to this as prices are going up.”

On Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a video address that Russia has continued to attack his country’s ports and cities which has hampered its ability to export grain. He also noted that these attacks have destroyed 60,000 tons of grain.

“This attack proves that their target is not only Ukraine and not only the lives of our people. About a million tons of food is stored in the ports attacked today,” Zelenskyy said. “This is the volume that should have been delivered to consumer countries in Africa and Asia long ago.”