Food exports to the Black Sea have come to a complete halt – world food prices are breaking records.
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) declares that oil and grain prices have reached record highs in the past month, threatening millions of people in Africa and the Middle East with malnutrition. The main reason for the abnormal rise in prices is a drop in the supply of these products due to the war in Ukraine, according to the Voice of America.
FAO also notes that the index of fluctuations in world prices for the basket of goods last month averaged 159.3 points, which is 12.6% more than in February. At the same time, the February index has been a record since its inception in 1990. In addition, the FAO states that the war in Ukraine has largely caused a jump in grain prices, including wheat, oats, barley, and corn.
“Very high food prices require urgent action,” Josef Schmidhuber, FAO's Deputy Director-General for Markets and Trade, told a briefing in Geneva today. According to him, the most significant increase in prices was in oil: by 23.2%. The reason for this jump is mainly due to the increase in the price of oil used for cooking.
Ukraine is a global exporter of this product, but there are no exports across the Black Sea, and exports through the Baltic are also halted. In addition, prices for mineral fertilizers, Russia's leading exporter, have risen by 30%. other factors, including crop problems in the United States and China.
To meet the needs of food-importing countries, FAO is urging donor countries to invest more in their own agricultural production to mitigate the impact.
The sharp rise in food prices and supply disruptions from Russia and Ukraine have jeopardized food, especially in the Middle East, Africa and parts of Asia, where the population is constantly malnourished and where millions of people survive on bread and cheap noodles.
There is already a sharp deterioration in food security in at-risk areas: 6 million children are already malnourished, and almost 16 million in urban areas are on the brink of starvation.
Russia accounts for about 30% and to Ukraine – 20% of world exports of wheat and corn, respectively. In addition, Ukraine ranks first in the world in oil exports, and Russia – second.
Read also: Ukraine fed 400 million people, and now every fifth Ukrainian has to eat less – UN
< It will be recalled that Russian troops bombed three ships in the Black Sea and block 94 more ships with food in Ukrainian ports, preventing them from entering the Mediterranean. The waters of the Black Sea off the coast of Ukraine have been mined by the Russian occupiers.
