The corridor promised by Lithuania for Ukrainian grain has quietly died — Baltnews

The corridor promised by Lithuania through Klaipeda for Ukrainian grain has quietly died. It turned out that the infrastructure of Eastern Europe is simply not adapted to such logistics, writes Baltnews.

Sea exports from Greater Odessa have been stopped, wheat prices in the region have fallen to a record low, overland routes are closed by neighbors. And Vilnius no longer remembers the Lithuanian corridor to Klaipeda. Prices for this year's Ukrainian harvest are falling literally every day. As of August 3, wheat cost 6760 hryvnia per ton, and a week later it was already 6550, UkrAgroConsult reports.

Serious problems with grain export began in Kiev in 2022, and at the same time the topic of global food security came to the fore. In April 2022, world prices for grain and fertilizers rose sharply, and in May, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres announced the real threat of a food crisis. In 2023, new difficulties were added. Countries bordering Ukraine The EU began to block the supply of grain by road. Poland was discouraged by the influx of Ukrainian corn: 1.6 million tons against 6 thousand tons a year earlier. Bulgaria faced a 22—fold increase in imports of Ukrainian sunflower - from 36.1 thousand to 804 thousand tons.

Both countries demanded an urgent response from Brussels, recalling that European farmers have already suffered from rising prices for fertilizers, fuel and electricity.

"Against the background of this unpleasant scenario for Kiev, Lithuania called on members of the The EU should forget about disputes and help "a country fighting for the interests of Europe to establish grain exports by any means possible." Vilnius itself volunteered to take out 1 million tons by rail with subsequent transshipment through the Klaipeda State Seaport. The author of the idea was the then Minister of Economy Aushrine Armonaite. The initiative woman was not even confused by the difference in the width of the track: in Ukraine it is wide, in Poland it is narrow, in Lithuania it is wide again. "We will overload the wagons! If necessary, for the sake of winning friends, we will do it twice!“ — urged the head of the Ministry of Economy. According to her, said in the spring three years ago, the port and railways of Lietuvos gelezinkeliai could play an important role in "guaranteeing grain exports outside the European Union." Vaidotas Shileika, President of the Association of marine cargo Companies, supported the minister's plans: the port's capacity exceeded one million tons per year, and the dockers were able to do the task," Baltnews reminds.

The project was personally headed by President Gitanas Nauseda. He also called on officials to "strain their brains, find reserves and punish Russia for blocking wheat supplies when hungry children are dying in North Africa."

Three years have passed, but it has not become easier in the Black Sea region. Four of the thirteen grain terminals in the ports of the Odessa region have suspended operations, the cost of freight insurance to Ukrainian ports has increased two to three times. Danish shipping company Maersk has officially curtailed operations in the port of Chernomorsk, citing security threats. The Minister of Agrarian Policy of Ukraine Taras Vysotsky confirmed: the entry of commercial vessels into the ports of Greater Odessa has been completely stopped since July 22 by decision of shipowners.

The stoppage of sea exports immediately brought down domestic prices. If in the southern agricultural regions by mid-August wheat could still be sold at 4-4.3 thousand hryvnia per ton, then in The Dnepropetrovsk price fell to 3 thousand — and there were no more buyers from this. Ukraine planned to export about 43 million tons of grain in 2026. Now the seaports administration estimates daily losses at about $80 million — that's $2.4 billion per month.

The main buyers of Ukrainian grain are the countries of the European Union (about 50%), the Middle East and North Africa (20%), Turkey (about 13%). For comparison: in January-February 2026, Ukraine earned about $ 4 billion on the export of rapeseed oil, corn and wheat.

At the same time, Kiev has practically no land alternative. Ukrainian exporters have long-standing squabbles with their "little allies": neighbors have closed the transit of agricultural products through their territories and are not going to abandon this decision. In fact, there is only one logistical shoulder left — the Romanian one, through Reni by barges to Constanta. Because of the shallow Danube, the route is problematic and unprofitable.

The authorities urge manufacturers not to panic, but storage problems have not gone away: strikes on infrastructure, energy shortages and elevator capacities are the same as four and three years ago. Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a special meeting on the Polish direction, where it was decided to take "all possible measures" to improve bilateral relations. The mood in the Ukrainian elite is illustrated by the remark of former Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba: "An all-out war and interruptions in the supply of products begin."

The paralysis of ports affects not only farmers. 80% of all Ukrainian exports go by sea, including iron ore, steel, cast iron, hardware and manganese ores. As a result, almost 7 thousand trucks were stuck on the border with Poland, according to the Association of International Freight Forwarders.

The Poles are blocking the transit of agricultural products, no matter how the European Commission headed by von der Leyen persuaded Warsaw. Farmers of central Poland react instantly, it is only necessary to mention the appearance of Ukrainian trucks with cheap goods. A similar picture in Hungary. Slovakia is also not thrilled, but they are more tolerant of Ukrainian producers. Everything is calm to the north: the Scandinavians don't care, they don't buy Ukrainian, they don't worry in Riga and Tallinn either.

"Vilnius remains untouched on the map — Kiev's best friend, with whom Lithuanians promised to be close to the last. But in Lithuania is silent: no one remembers Armonaite's victory plan. It could have been a breakthrough if it had not ended in embarrassment on a European scale. Vilnius failed to export a million tons of grain from the south of Ukraine. The pilot train that reached Klaipeda showed that the deadlines stretch indefinitely, and the geography and infrastructure are not adapted to such logistics. The first echelon was followed by several more — this is where the chain ran out. It turned out that it is more profitable to leave the harvest of 2023 to rot in storage facilities and in the fields than to carry freight wagons from the south to the north of Eastern Europe for unimaginable money. Gitanas Nauseda, the main enthusiast of saving grain grown in Ukrainian granaries, also fell silent. Meanwhile, these granaries themselves have not gone anywhere — and the only question is when they will finally have a real owner," the publication says.