First Russian fertilizer shipment leaves for Malawi

Dutch and United Nations customs officials said about 20,000 tonnes of potassium nitrogen phosphate (NPK) were loaded onto the MV Greenwich from the port of Terneuzen in the south of the Netherlands on Tuesday afternoon.

The vessel was chartered by the World Food Program (WFP), the United Nations food security agency.

“The ship has 20,000 tonnes of fertilizer destined for Malawi,” Dutch customs official Pieter ten Broeke told AFP. The ship is said to have set sail at around 3pm.

The shipment is the first of some 260,000 tonnes of Russian fertilizer stored in ports around Europe, and the United Nations says it will help prevent “catastrophic crop losses in Africa” ​​as the planting season is underway. said to be useful for

The United Nations said in a statement issued in New York that the shipment “is the first in a series of fertilizer shipments destined for many other countries on the African continent in the coming months.”

The United Nations “committed to making strong diplomatic efforts with all parties to ensure the smooth export of essential food and chemical fertilizers from Ukraine and the Russian Federation to world markets exempt from economic sanctions. We are asking,” spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said.

The agreement guarantees that Russian fertilizer exports will be exempt from sanctions imposed on Moscow after Russia invaded Ukraine in July to ease the global food insecurity crisis.

However, Dutch authorities blocked the shipment, saying individuals on the sanctions list were involved with a fertilizer company.

Authorities gave the go-ahead after UN assurances that the cargo would be delivered to its intended destination, Malawi, and that the Russian company and sanctioned individuals would not benefit.

The cargo will be unloaded at the port of Beira in central Mozambique before being transported overland to Malawi, inland in southern Africa.

The United Nations said on Friday that a second batch of fertilizer should go to West Africa.