UN: Russian ship with fertilizer to leave for Africa on Monday

A Russian ship with fertilizer blocked in a European port will leave for Africa on Nov. 21, the head of the UN trade office said on Friday.

Rebeca Grynspan spoke to journalists at a news conference following the agreement to extend the landmark Black Sea grain deal for another 120 days, announced by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday.

“The first shipping will leave a Netherlands port going to Malawi, and the vessel is loading right now,” Grynspan said.

“The date established for the vessel to go is the 21st of November to Malawi through Mozambique,” Grynspan noted, adding that there are around 300,000 tons of fertilizer in different European ports.

“This is very important because Malawi is one of the countries lighting up in red with respect to fertilizer use,” she added.

Grynspan said the UN hopes that the next destination for Russian goods will be West Africa, “which has been very affected by the affordability crisis of fertilizers.”