POSCO INTERNATIONAL : transports Ukrainian corn through the sea lanes

61,000 tons of corn departed from Ukraine on August 16, set to arrive at Incheon Port in late September

- Increase in grain imports expected to help with Korea's food security and price stability

POSCO INTERNATIONAL has resumed the imports of Ukrainian corn through Incheon Port, after the imports were temporarily halted due to the Russo-Ukrainian War.

On September 5, POSCO INTERNATIONAL announced that its cargo ship carrying 61,000 tons of corn had set sail from Pivdennyi Port in Ukraine to Korea on August 16.

The ship is scheduled to arrive at Incheon Port in late September, and the corn is to be used as livestock fodder, in the hopes that this will stabilize the price of fodder in Korea.

Having carefully monitored Russia and Ukraine's safe maritime passage deal, POSCO INTERNATIONAL has been making advance preparations to have the importation vessels set sail to Korea, working in close cooperation with the Ukrainian supply lines and the shipowners.

This shipment has significance, as an effort by a private company to support domestic food security and price stability by importing foreign grain to Korea.

As a POSCO INTERNATIONAL spokesperson expressed, "with the food security becoming even more important given the global supply network crisis and the government making food sovereignty an important national priority, this shipment will be the start of continuously growing initiative of using grain imports to promote domestic food security and price stability."

Due to the ongoing war, approximately 20 million tons of grain including corn and wheat is currently believed to be stored in Ukraine, and major grain companies around the world are making various efforts to secure and import it.

This resumption of grain exports is expected to see the Ukrainian government exporting more than 3 million tons of grain per month, which will help to alleviate the ongoing global inflation.

Thus far, POSCO INTERNATIONAL is the only Korean company to have its grain exportation terminal on the Port of Mykolaiv.

The Mykolaiv grain terminal was built in September 2019 and has sold approximately 2.5 million tons of grain, as of February 2022, to Korea, Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East.

The terminal's operation was temporarily halted following the Russian invasion in February, but it is getting back to a restart with land transportation resuming in June.

No direct damage has been incurred at the terminal yet, and the local staff is mainly operating the site.