Lloyd’s insurers preparing to cover Ukraine grain shipments
(Reuters) — Lloyd’s of London insurers and brokers are preparing to provide cover for grain shipments from Ukraine and are likely to announce their plans shortly, the commercial insurance market’s chairman said Wednesday.
Russia and Ukraine signed a deal Friday, brokered by Turkey and the United Nations, to reopen grain and fertilizer exports that have been blocked by war to ease an international food crisis.
“Following the agreement between Russia and Ukraine on the export of grain, we're working quite hard with market participants to make sure we can develop policies that can support it,” Bruce Carnegie-Brown told Reuters.
“We are expecting to see the announcement from brokers and underwriters of some products that will support this in the next few days.”
Risks remain following a Russian missile attack on the Ukrainian port of Odesa, a day after the grain deal was signed.
“It is crucial that the agreement holds,” Mr. Carnegie-Brown said. “A number of mines have already been planted in the Black Sea. Insurers can get their arms around that but they wouldn't be able to get their arms around serious breaches of the agreement.”
Premiums to go into the broader Black Sea area have risen sharply since the invasion, to as much as 5% of the value of the ship from 0.025% before the invasion.
