Ukraine exports grains through Croatia

Ukraine has exported 100,000 tons of wheat and maize through the Croatian port of Rijeka since May 2022, according to a port official who spoke to the French Press Agency on Wednesday. Zagreb hopes to become a gateway for Ukrainian grain exports.

Marino Klaric, the official, explained that the grains were transported by train from Ukraine via Hungary.

The port of Rijeka, located about 70 kilometers from the Italian border, has the capacity to handle approximately one million tons of grain annually but hopes to increase its capacity in the coming months.

In early September, Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković announced that his country is the "gateway from the Mediterranean to Central Europe," adding, "For this reason, we have offered the possibility of using our ports, especially the port of Rijeka," for exporting Ukrainian grain.

The issue of Ukrainian grain exports has become more complex since July when Russia withdrew from an agreement reached in 2022 through UN and Turkish mediation, allowing for the safe export of grain from ports in southern Ukraine.

Since its withdrawal, Moscow has threatened to attack ships leaving Ukrainian ports in the Black Sea and has intensified its attacks on the infrastructure of Ukrainian ports.

Between Tuesday and Wednesday night, Russian drones targeted Reni and Ismail, two major Ukrainian grain-exporting towns on the Black Sea, according to Odesa Regional Governor Oleh Kiber.

In April, five EU countries, including Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia, imposed a ban on importing wheat, maize, rapeseed, and sunflower seeds from Ukraine to protect their farmers, who blamed these imports for falling prices in their local markets.



AFP