Higher global wheat price looms on UN, Russia deal uncertainty

Kenya is staring at elevated wheat prices in the coming months should Russia fail to renew a United Nations-brokered deal on grain passage along the Black Sea this month (May). Russia said it would not renew the Grain Initiative deal, first reached last year if the US and European Union did not lift the sanctions they have slapped on Moscow. The current deal, which allows grain from Ukraine to pass through the Black Sea Channel, is due to expire on May 18. Read: Wheat prices to remain high on sharp drop in production But Russia has repeatedly said it will not permit the deal to be extended unless the West removes obstacles to Russian grain and fertiliser exports. Moscow has raised concerns that restrictions on its payments, logistics, and insurance industries imposed over its military actions in Ukraine, restricting it from exporting its grains and fertilisers. “(The deal) is not a buffet you can pick and choose from,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova was ...