Countries in the Middle East fear price hikes after the suspension of grain agreement

Middle East countries, many of them struggling with severe crises, fear an increase in the prices of cereals, the staple food in the region, after the suspension of the Black Sea Initiative, reported this Wednesday the Associated Press agency (AP ). In mid-July, Russia withdrew from the initiative that also covered Ukraine, a UN-Turkey-brokered deal that allowed the export of grain across the Black Sea from Ukrainian ports. According to the AP, this agreement helped to stabilize food prices that had skyrocketed last year after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, two countries that are major suppliers of wheat, barley, sunflower oil and other foodstuffs to the so-called nations in development. Egypt, the world's biggest wheat importer, and other low-income countries in the Middle East, such as Lebanon and Pakistan, have already expressed their concern about the consequences of suspending the agreement. Other countries have managed to diversify their sources of supply of wheat, the ...