The state and the banking system must, already now, introduce mechanisms to support farmers in order to avoid a financial crisis in the industry due to the complication of grain exports by sea. In particular, credit holidays, the expansion of insurance programs, and permission to use grain in warehouses as collateral for obtaining loans to conduct the autumn sowing campaign.

This was stated by Denys Marchuk, Deputy Chairman of the UAC.

According to him, the need for such decisions is due to the deterioration of the security situation around the ports of Greater Odesa. Because of constant Russian shelling, insurance companies have effectively stopped covering the risks of vessels entering Ukrainian ports, as a result of which new vessels almost never enter to load grain.

"Insurance policies effectively do not apply to entry into the ports of Greater Odesa. Companies refuse to do this. We understand why: shelling occurs every day. Unfortunately, there is not only property damage, but also human casualties — among vessel crews and port workers," Marchuk explained.

As a result, grain exports through the ports of Greater Odesa have effectively been suspended. At present, loading is being completed mainly by vessels that arrived at Ukrainian ports earlier and already had concluded freight contracts.

"In fact, we can say that our exports through Greater Odesa have partially stopped. This, of course, has a negative impact on the further export marketing year," the expert emphasized.

According to Denys Marchuk, in July Ukraine planned to export more than 2.5 million tonnes of grain by sea; however, at present export volumes amount to only slightly more than 1 million tonnes.

Despite this, farmers still have sufficient capacity for storing the new harvest. At the same time, this reserve will be enough for only two to four months. If the operation of the sea corridor cannot be restored in the near future, in the autumn, during the harvesting of oilseed crops and the conduct of the sowing campaign, producers may face an acute shortage of working capital, a lack of storage capacity, and the risk of bankruptcies.

In Denys Marchuk's opinion, this is precisely why decisions on financial support for farmers must be made already now, without waiting for the consequences of the reduction in exports to grow into a systemic crisis for the industry.