U.N. says deal close on resuming Russia ammonia exports via Ukraine

Reuters

Published Nov 30, 2022 03:45PM ET

Updated Nov 30, 2022 04:27PM ET

By Michelle Nichols and Axel Threlfall

NEW YORK (Reuters) -A deal is "quite close" to resume Russian ammonia exports via a pipeline to a Black Sea port in Ukraine, U.N. aid chief Martin Griffiths told a Reuters NEXT event on Wednesday, stressing that it was "almost more important" than ensuring grain exports.

Facilitating Russia's food and fertilizer shipments is a central aspect of a package deal brokered by the United Nations and Turkey in July - and extended earlier this month - that also restarted Ukraine's Black Sea shipments of grain.

Russia's Feb. 24 invasion of its neighbor had stalled Ukraine's Black Sea exports of foodstuffs and also shut down a pipeline transporting ammonia from Russia to a Black Sea port in Ukraine. Ammonia is a key ingredient in nitrate fertilizer.

When asked about a deal to restart the ammonia pipeline, Griffiths said: "I think we're quite close, we're edging towards it this week."

"It's essential," he said, warning that if Russia's fertilizer exports were not resumed then it could spark a food availability problem in a year. "So it's hugely important, almost more important than grain."

The United Nations has said Russia's war in Ukraine worsened a global food crisis, pushing some 47 million people into "acute hunger" and sparking the need for the export deal. Ukraine and Russia are both key global grain and fertilizer exporters.