Lebanon receives first Ukrainian grain shipment under Istanbul deal

Lebanon’s first grain shipment from Ukraine under the Istanbul grain export deal arrived in the port of Tripoli yesterday, Anadolu news agency reported.

Ukrainian Ambassador Ihor Ostosh said, during the reception held to receive the ship, that Kyiv seeks to prevent a food crisis despite the negative impact of the Russian invasion.

“Despite all the difficulties, Ukraine managed to export a total of 3.3 million tonnes of agricultural products from the ports of Odessa and Ukrainian ports on the Danube last August.”

Some 325,000 tonnes of wheat were imported by Lebanon in the first seven months of this year, he added, noting that 210,000 tonnes of grain were from Ukraine.

The Ukrainian official added that after the agreement with the United Nations and Turkiye, 220 ships had arrived at Odessa Port to transfer a total of 500 million tonnes of grain, mostly to the Middle East and Africa.

In July, Turkiye, the UN, Russia and Ukraine signed a deal to resume grain exports from three Ukrainian Black Sea ports after they were paused when the Russia-Ukraine war began in February.

A Joint Coordination Centre with officials from the three countries and the UN was set up in Istanbul to oversee the shipments.

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