Grain exports from Ukraine in the first days of July, the first month of the new 2023/24 July-June season, amounted to 34,000 metric tons, half as much as in the same period in 2022, the agriculture ministry said on Monday.

According to Reuters, the ministry said the volume in the new season so far included 9,000 tons of wheat and 25,000 tons of corn.

The exports for the whole 2022/23 season stood at almost 49 million tons, exceeding the previous season's level of 48.4 million tons.

The UCAB (Ukrainian Agribusiness Club) business association said a total of 3.8 million tons of grain and 513,500 tons of vegetable oil were exported in June, the last month of the previous marketing year.

Almost half of the volume, 2 million tons, was shipped abroad from deep Black Sea ports under the deal brokered by the United Nations and Turkey last July to tackle a global food crisis worsened by Russia's invasion of Ukraine and a blockade of Ukrainian ports.

Ukrainian officials have said Russia is in effect blocking Black Sea shipments, and that Kyiv must be ready to export grain almost exclusively via its Danube River ports.