Russia, Ukraine Clear Way for Grain Exports to Resume Amid Fears of Global Food Crisis

“Let there be no doubt—this is an agreement for the world,” said U.N. Secretary-General

António Guterres,

who flew to Istanbul for the signing ceremony. “It will bring relief for developing countries on the edge of bankruptcy and the most vulnerable people on the edge of famine.”

The deal between the three Black Sea neighbors and the U.N. is in effect for a period of 120 days, which can be renewed, a senior U.N. official said. The aim is for Ukraine to export about 5 million tons of grain a month, the equivalent of its prewar level, the official noted.

But implementing the deal could prove difficult since it calls for ships to navigate minefields in the Black Sea. Both Russia and Ukraine have laid sea mines that pose a hazard to the movement of any ships in the area.

Under the agreement, a joint coordination center will be established in Istanbul staffed by officials, including military personnel, from all four parties. These officials would be required to check ships heading toward Ukraine to ensure that they aren’t smuggling military supplies. Once the ships load grain at Odessa and other ports and leave Ukrainian waters, they are to sail along specific routes on their way to Turkey’s Bosporus, and then on to the rest of the world.

The agreement calls for commercial ships to navigate through Ukraine’s waters guided by Ukrainian pilots and possibly Ukrainian search-and-rescue vessels to help them avoid sea mines, the U.N. official said.

The plan calls for no further demining of Ukraine’s waters since military and U.N. experts involved in the talks agreed that wasn’t necessary, the official said. Ukraine has been reluctant to remove any of its sea mines to protect itself against further Russian naval attacks.

Senior Ukrainian official

Mykhailo Podolyak

said in a tweet that Kyiv would only sign an agreement with Turkey and the U.N., adding that Russia would sign a parallel agreement with them.

In case of any provocations from Russia there would be “an immediate military response,” said Mr. Podolyak, who is a senior Ukrainian negotiator and adviser to the head of the presidential administration.

Ukraine informed the U.N. that it would need about 10 days to prepare its ports to fully resume grain exports, U.N. officials said Friday.

“I think we’re talking about a few weeks before we see proper implementation of vessels going in and out, but it would not surprise me and I hope it won’t surprise you to see initial movement of ships going just to show that it can work,” a U.N. official said.

A separate parallel aspect of the agreement will facilitate the export of Russian food products and fertilizer needed to help sustain agriculture around the world.

Mr. Guterres first raised the proposed deal with Russian President

Vladimir Putin

and Ukrainian President

Volodymyr Zelensky

in April, setting in motion months of diplomacy led by top U.N. officials assisted by Turkey and President Recep

Tayyip Erdogan,

who personally spoke about the matter with both leaders, according to his office.

Wheat prices fell Friday ahead of the signing of the multilateral deal. Wheat futures that trade in Chicago fell 3.5% to $7.78 a bushel. Having surged to a record of $12.94 a bushel following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, prices have tumbled back to preinvasion levels in recent weeks, as concerns about the global economy have grown and a deal has looked increasingly likely.

“This apparent agreement is not an indication of a normalization in Ukrainian export flows but certainly a step in the right direction for global food supplies,” said analysts at JPMorgan in a recent note to clients.

Ukraine has accelerated its exports of grain overland and via smaller ships leaving the Danube river into the Black Sea in recent weeks, with that maritime route opening up after Ukraine retook control of Snake Island, a small but strategic territory in the Black Sea. The country exported about 2 million metric tons of grain in June, according to the Ukrainian government, still well under the prewar level of about 5 million tons a month.

At stake in the agreements signed on Friday is the resumption of exports on larger ships that would normally leave from Odessa and other ports. Some 18 million tons of grain remained trapped in Ukraine as of July. Another 65 million tons are expected as a result of the country’s summer harvest, with limited space to store those crops.

If implemented, Friday’s agreement could provide relief to nations in the Middle East and North Africa, which are acutely dependent on wheat from Ukraine and Russia. Egypt, the world’s largest importer of wheat, gets more than 70% of its supplies from the two countries, as does Lebanon. Turkey gets over 80% from the two countries.

—Alistair MacDonald and William Horner contributed to this article.

Write to Jared Malsin at jared.malsin@wsj.com

“Let there be no doubt—this is an agreement for the world,” said U.N. Secretary-General

António Guterres,

who flew to Istanbul for the signing ceremony. “It will bring relief for developing countries on the edge of bankruptcy and the most vulnerable people on the edge of famine.”

The deal between the three Black Sea neighbors and the U.N. is in effect for a period of 120 days, which can be renewed, a senior U.N. official said. The aim is for Ukraine to export about 5 million tons of grain a month, the equivalent of its prewar level, the official noted.

But implementing the deal could prove difficult since it calls for ships to navigate minefields in the Black Sea. Both Russia and Ukraine have laid sea mines that pose a hazard to the movement of any ships in the area.

Under the agreement, a joint coordination center will be established in Istanbul staffed by officials, including military personnel, from all four parties. These officials would be required to check ships heading toward Ukraine to ensure that they aren’t smuggling military supplies. Once the ships load grain at Odessa and other ports and leave Ukrainian waters, they are to sail along specific routes on their way to Turkey’s Bosporus, and then on to the rest of the world.

The agreement calls for commercial ships to navigate through Ukraine’s waters guided by Ukrainian pilots and possibly Ukrainian search-and-rescue vessels to help them avoid sea mines, the U.N. official said.

The plan calls for no further demining of Ukraine’s waters since military and U.N. experts involved in the talks agreed that wasn’t necessary, the official said. Ukraine has been reluctant to remove any of its sea mines to protect itself against further Russian naval attacks.

Senior Ukrainian official

Mykhailo Podolyak

said in a tweet that Kyiv would only sign an agreement with Turkey and the U.N., adding that Russia would sign a parallel agreement with them.

In case of any provocations from Russia there would be “an immediate military response,” said Mr. Podolyak, who is a senior Ukrainian negotiator and adviser to the head of the presidential administration.

Ukraine informed the U.N. that it would need about 10 days to prepare its ports to fully resume grain exports, U.N. officials said Friday.

“I think we’re talking about a few weeks before we see proper implementation of vessels going in and out, but it would not surprise me and I hope it won’t surprise you to see initial movement of ships going just to show that it can work,” a U.N. official said.

A separate parallel aspect of the agreement will facilitate the export of Russian food products and fertilizer needed to help sustain agriculture around the world.

Mr. Guterres first raised the proposed deal with Russian President

Vladimir Putin

and Ukrainian President

Volodymyr Zelensky

in April, setting in motion months of diplomacy led by top U.N. officials assisted by Turkey and President Recep

Tayyip Erdogan,

who personally spoke about the matter with both leaders, according to his office.

Wheat prices fell Friday ahead of the signing of the multilateral deal. Wheat futures that trade in Chicago fell 3.5% to $7.78 a bushel. Having surged to a record of $12.94 a bushel following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, prices have tumbled back to preinvasion levels in recent weeks, as concerns about the global economy have grown and a deal has looked increasingly likely.

“This apparent agreement is not an indication of a normalization in Ukrainian export flows but certainly a step in the right direction for global food supplies,” said analysts at JPMorgan in a recent note to clients.

Ukraine has accelerated its exports of grain overland and via smaller ships leaving the Danube river into the Black Sea in recent weeks, with that maritime route opening up after Ukraine retook control of Snake Island, a small but strategic territory in the Black Sea. The country exported about 2 million metric tons of grain in June, according to the Ukrainian government, still well under the prewar level of about 5 million tons a month.

At stake in the agreements signed on Friday is the resumption of exports on larger ships that would normally leave from Odessa and other ports. Some 18 million tons of grain remained trapped in Ukraine as of July. Another 65 million tons are expected as a result of the country’s summer harvest, with limited space to store those crops.

If implemented, Friday’s agreement could provide relief to nations in the Middle East and North Africa, which are acutely dependent on wheat from Ukraine and Russia. Egypt, the world’s largest importer of wheat, gets more than 70% of its supplies from the two countries, as does Lebanon. Turkey gets over 80% from the two countries.

—Alistair MacDonald and William Horner contributed to this article.

Write to Jared Malsin at jared.malsin@wsj.com