The agreement allowing Ukraine to export grain and other agricultural products from three ports on the Black Sea is subject to renewal in March. Ukraine has managed to export 15.6 million metric tons from the 2022-2023 harvest, down 31 percent from the volume exported during the previous season.

Despite the free-passage agreement brokered by the United Nations and Turkey, deliberate inspection delays imposed by Russia has resulted in vessels being idle in ports for up to a month. This has resulted in a 2.5-million-ton accumulation of corn, wheat and oilseeds claimed to be necessary to feed client nations. Recent investigations have shown that a proportion of exports from Ukraine have been consigned to Spain and other E.U. nations.  

According to the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the agreement should allow transport of 5 million metric tons of agricultural products each month.  Effectively, delays imposed by Russia have reduced the volume to half the required amount depriving recipients of food and reducing foreign earnings for Ukraine.