The head of the UN’s trade arm has appealed to shipowners to help expand the international effort to increase exports of food and fertilizer from Ukraine that have been blocked by Russia’s invasion. Rebeca Grynspan told the opening of the Global Maritime Forum in New York the initial success of the grain export program should give them confidence to offer more tonnage to help avoid a global food crisis and bring prices down. “We cannot do it alone; we cannot do this in government; we need the entire business sector,” said Grynspan, who is secretary-general of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. “We need you. We need more ships; we need bigger ships going to Ukraine and Russian ports and bring food and fertilizer that are not under sanctions to the world.”

Several owners and charters responded privately with caution to the appeal, citing President Vladimir Putin’s escalation of the conflict this week with a mobilization of reserve military forces and an implied threat to use nuclear weapons. Speaking on condition of anonymity, a commodities trader said the situation is deteriorating rather than improving. “With what has gone on over the last few days, the grim reality is people are looking to get out rather than get more involved,” the source commented.

Grynspan said the Black Sea Grain Initiative to move grain trapped in Ukrainian ports since the invasion in February had been a success so far. Some 4 MMT of grain have already been shipped out, which has started to stabilize food supply and calm pricing. It has also provided urgently needed space for this year’s crop. “But this is a fraction of what the world needs for [grain] prices to come down,” Grynspan said at the opening of this year’s forum, which is a not-for-profit initiative to drive collaboration towards higher standards across the maritime industry. “We need to bring prices down.” Earlier this week, UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres made a powerful plea for unsanctioned fertilizer exports from Russia to be accelerated, in an expansion of the grain export plan. In his opening address to the UN General Assembly, he called the Black Sea initiative between Ukraine and Russia with the support of Turkey “a miracle” at a time when the world faced multiple acute political, economic, and social problems. “This year, the world has enough food; the problem is distribution. But if the fertilizer market is not stabilized, next year’s problem might be food supply itself,” Guterres said. “It is essential to continue removing all remaining obstacles to the export of Russian fertilizers and their ingredients, including ammonia. These products are not subject to sanctions, and we will keep up our efforts to eliminate indirect effects. Without action now, the global fertilizer shortage will quickly morph into a global food shortage.”