MUNICH ¨C The war in Ukraine has led to an explosion in global food prices.
Before Russia¡¯s invasion, Ukraine accounted for 10% of global exports of wheat, 13% of barley, more than 50% of sunflower oil, 5% of rapeseed oil and 15% of corn. But these deliveries have now been disrupted on a massive scale, because Russia is blockading Ukrainian ports and bombing its grain storage facilities. In April, the global FAO food price index was already 30% higher year on year and 62% higher than in 2020 on average. And threats to this year¡¯s harvest mean that additional price spikes are looming.
Higher food prices affect consumers all over the world. But poor countries are especially vulnerable. Because they already must spend the lion¡¯s share of their income on food, they simply cannot compete with other countries when prices rise. Increased poverty, hunger, starvation and widespread protests will become inevitable.
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