UN: War in Ukraine to hurt poor nations importing grain
ROME (AP) — Poorer countries in northern Africa, Asia and the Middle East that depend heavily on wheat imports risk suffering significant food security because of Russia's war in Ukraine, and the conflict is poised to drive up already soaring food prices in much of the globe, the U.N. food agency warned Friday.
Ukraine and Russia, which is under heavy economic sanctions for invading its neighbor two weeks ago, account for one-third of global grain exports.
With the conflict's intensity and duration uncertain, “the likely disruptions to agricultural activities of these two major exporters of staple commodities could seriously escalate food insecurity globally, when international food and input prices are already high and vulnerable," said Qu Dongyu, director-general of the Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organization.
The U.N. agency, known as FAO, also noted that Russia is the lead producer of fertilizer, and a key fertilizer component — urea — has jumped more than threefold in price in the last 12 months.
Also worrisome, Qu said in a statement, is the uncertainty over whether Ukraine’s farmers will be able to harvest wheat ready in June. In Ukraine, “massive population displacement has reduced the number of agricultural laborers and workers. Accessing agricultural fields would be difficult,'' Qu noted.
Even if they could, Ukraine’s ports on the Black Sea are shuttered and its government this week banned the export of wheat, oats, millet, buckwheat and some other food products to prevent a crisis in its own country and stabilize the market.
Ukraine’s export ban doesn’t apply to its major global supplies corn and sunflower oil. It and Russia together account for 52% of the world's sunflower oil export market. They also account for 19% of the world's barley supply, 14%...
