Policy Backgrounders

Putin-Erdogan Meeting on Grain Exports

September 07, 2023

This is an update to the Policy Backgrounder "Global Food Prices and Inflation," which reported on CED’s Trustee Roundtable with Professor Edwin Price, Department of Agricultural Economics, Texas A&M University and including CED Trustees David Smith, Chief Executive Officer, Associated Wholesale Grocers; Jason Potter, Chief Executive Officer, Fresh Market; and Laura Karet, Former Chair and CEO, Giant Eagle, Inc.

Food price inflation has been exacerbated by extreme weather events, Russia’s departure from the Black Sea Grain Initiative on July 17, and its subsequent attacks on grain infrastructure at Ukrainian ports and Ukrainian retaliation. On September 4, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an met with Russian President Vladimir Putin to advocate reviving the Initiative which allowed for safe passage for the export of Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea.

• Putin continues to refuse to rejoin the Initiative until his demands are met, including reconnection of the Russian Agricultural Bank to the SWIFT international payments system. The EU cut the bank from SWIFT as part of its sanctions packages in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
• Russia will separately ship 1,000,000 tons of grain to Turkey, which will process it into flour and then reexport to countries in need, presumably in the Middle East and Africa.
• Russia continues to attack Ukrainian grain export infrastructure; on Sunday, Russian drones hit Danube River port infrastructure critical to Ukraine’s grain exports, and part of a drone landed in Romania, a NATO ally.