Three more vessels carrying thousands of tonnes of corn left Ukrainian ports on Friday and traveled through mine waters for inspection of delayed cargo.
Turkey’s defense ministry said two of the three ships docked north of Istanbul on Saturday were awaiting inspection.
The Panama-flagged Navi Star, which is carrying 33,000 tons of grain to Ireland, departed Odesa on Friday.
The ministry posted on Twitter that the Navi Star will be inspected by the Joint Coordination Center, an agency created under the agreement to export about 20 million tons of grain from Ukrainian silos.
The Maltese-flagged Rojen, carrying 13,000 tons of corn destined for the UK, arrived on the northern Black Sea coast of Istanbul shortly after the Navistar.
Rojen left Chornomorsk and will be tested on Sunday morning, the ministry said.
The Turkish-flagged Polarnet, carrying 12,000 tons of corn, docks in the Turkish port of Derince after passing through the Bosphorus.
The Coordination Center is run by officials from Ukraine, Russia, Turkey and the United Nations.
The checks are intended to ensure that outgoing cargo ships carry only grain, fertilizer, or food and no other goods, and incoming ships carry no arms.
The first grain shipments passed through Istanbul on Monday and headed for Lebanon.
The ships are among more than a dozen bulk carriers and cargo ships loaded with grain and stuck in Ukrainian ports since the Russian invasion began in late February.
The Black Sea region has been called the breadbasket of the world and is the world’s primary source of wheat, maize, barley and sunflower oil on which millions of poor people in parts of Africa, the Middle East and Asia depend for their survival. major suppliers are Ukraine and Russia.
However, the first shipments are not expected to have a significant impact on global prices for corn, wheat and soybeans. First of all, the threat of floating explosive landmines off Ukraine’s Black Sea coast has given exports under this agreement a slow and cautious start.
And although Ukraine is a major exporter of wheat to developing countries, there are also countries with much higher production levels, such as the United States and Canada, which affect global wheat prices.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Sochi, Russia, on Friday after Turkey helped broker a food deal two weeks ago.
In a statement after the four-hour meeting, Putin and Erdogan “underlined the need to fully implement the package deal agreed in Istanbul, including unhindered exports of Russian grain and fertilizers.” emphasized.
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