Russia is ready to replace Ukrainian grain on the world market given the former's bumper harvest this year, Konstantin Kosachev, deputy speaker of Russia's upper chamber of parliament, the Federation Council, said on Sunday.

Official data showed that at least 50 countries are highly dependent on Russian agricultural products, including some poor African countries, Kosachev said in a statement.

Russia expects to export more than 50 million tonnes of grain in the current season, Kosachev said in a post on Telegram following Moscow's decision to suspend its participation in the Black Sea grain initiative.

On Saturday, Russia's Defense Ministry announced the suspension of participation in the Black Sea grain initiative that allowed food exports from Ukrainian ports, after the alleged attacks against the Russian naval and civilian ships in the waters near the city of Sevastopol. A day after Russia suspended its participation, the UN, Türkiye and Ukraine agreed on a plan to move 16 vessels in Turkish waters on October 31.

According to a China Media Group report, citing Russia's Sputnik news agency, Turkish sources said on Sunday that Türkiye is communicating with Russia on the deal on multiple fronts, but the situation is too complicated to make details public. According to the source, it was not clear where the deal would go from here, but there was still hope that a consensus could be reached.

On July 22, Russia and Ukraine signed agreements with the UN and Türkiye, respectively, on resuming the export of agricultural products from Black Sea ports. The agreement included the establishment of a joint coordination center in Istanbul, Türkiye, to ensure the security of food shipments, and an agreement by Russia and Ukraine not to attack ships carrying agricultural products. The agreement is valid for 120 days and was supposed to expire on November 19.

Russia and Ukraine are both major grain exporters. Over the past three years, Russia and Ukraine together accounted for about 30 percent of global wheat exports and 20 percent of global corn exports, according to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization.

Analysts said that if the Black Sea ports end the agreement to export agricultural products, it could again push up food prices on the international market. On Monday, wheat futures for December delivery jumped more than 6 percent.

(Cover via CFP)