How Has the Russia-Ukraine Conflict Created a Global Food Crisis?
Summary from the AllSides News Team
The months-long conflict between Russia and Ukraine is disrupting the area known as "Europe's breadbasket", leading to price hikes and supply issues for key food products worldwide.
Before the invasion, Russia and Ukraine were combining to produce roughly 25% of the world's wheat exports, 57% of sunflower seed oil exports and 14% of corn exports over the past several years, according to United Nations data. Much of that activity, especially in Ukraine, is now halted. Hundreds of thousands of acres of Ukrainian farmland is battle-torn, and Russia has also blockaded key export routes from Ukraine in the Black Sea. Some estimates suggest that 22-25 million metric tons of corn and wheat are sitting in Ukraine due to the blockades.
In the U.S., the Consumer Price Index for food is up 14.4% since the start of 2020. In other countries such as Lebanon, the food CPI has risen 3290% over the same span. In Africa, where nearly half of wheat imports come from Russia and Ukraine, reports across the spectrum say prices have risen as much as 45% due to the conflict. Some countries are responding by limiting their exports, especially oils and grain exports.
Outlets across the political spectrum, especially on the left and center but also on the right, have shown similarities in highlighting the conflict's impact on food security and access worldwide, and many have framed the situation as dire.
Featured Coverage of this Story
From the Left
The coming food catastropheBy invading ukraine, Vladimir Putin will destroy the lives of people far from the battlefield—and on a scale even he may regret. The war is battering a global food system weakened by covid-19, climate change and an energy shock. Ukraine’s exports of grain and oilseeds have mostly stopped and Russia’s are threatened. Together, the two countries supply 12% of traded calories. Wheat prices, up 53% since the start of the year, jumped a further 6% on May 16th, after India said it would suspend exports because of an alarming heatwave.
The widely accepted idea of a cost-of-living...
From the Center
The war in Ukraine is fuelling a global food crisisRussia's invasion of Ukraine in late February dramatically worsened the outlook for already inflated global food prices.
The halt in Ukrainian exports following the outbreak of the conflict pushed the Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO) food price index, which tracks international prices of the most globally traded food commodities, to its highest point in March since records began in 1990.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine, a move Russia calls a "special operation" to demilitarise its neighbour, is the latest development in a growing global food crisis.
While post-pandemic global demand, extreme...
From the Right
Families in Africa burdened with higher food costs, hunger because of Russia's war on UkraineFamilies in Africa are seeing the price of wheat flour reach levels not seen in months as Russia continues to wage its war on Ukraine.
Most of the wheat sold in Somalia is imported from Ukraine and Russia, but exports through the Black Sea have been stopped since the Kremlin launched its invasion into its eastern European neighbor in late February.
African countries imported 44% of their wheat from Russia and Ukraine between 2018 and 2020, according to data from the United Nations. The African Development Bank reported that the price of wheat...
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