Ukraine’s infrastructure minister has warned it will take months before grain exports from Odesa and neighbouring ports reach prewar levels and alleviate the global food crisis despite the relaxation of a Russian blockade in the Black Sea.

Speaking after the departure on Monday of a ship transporting corn from Odesa to Lebanon — the first under a deal between Russia and Ukraine brokered by the UN last month — Oleksander Kubrakov said he expected no more than five vessels to leave in the next two weeks from Odesa, Chornomorsk and Pivdennyi.

Last August, 194 grain-carrying vessels departed Ukrainian ports, including now Russian-controlled Mariupol, according to London-based shipbroker Braemar. Odesa, Chornomorsk and Pivdennyi previously handled about 60 per cent of all Ukrainian grain exports.