World to face food shortage if fertilizer markets are not normalized, says UN chief

By Trend

The world community must solve the problem with the access of Russian fertilizers to the markets, otherwise the world will face food shortages next year, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told a news conference in connection with the start of the 77th session of the UN General Assembly, Trend reports citing TASS.

"If we don't normalize the fertilizer markets, we will have a problem of food in 2023," the secretary-general stressed. "We are doing everything to make it happen in reality to get Russian food and fertilizers to global markets," Guterres stressed.

The Financial Times reported on Tuesday referring to the sources briefed on the talks that UN diplomats held discussions with Kiev and Moscow to reopen the Togliatti-Odessa pipeline carrying ammonia. On February 24, the Togliattiazot fertilizer producer suspended the transit of ammonia via the pipeline over the situation in Ukraine.

Earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov accused the West of failing to comply with its commitments to implement the part of the memorandum of the Russian Federation with the UN on the access of Russian grain and fertilizers to global markets.