The war in Ukraine raises fears of a major food crisis

Published 2022년 3월 8일

Tridge summary

Ukraine, a key producer of wheat and other agricultural products, has introduced export licenses and quotas for several commodities, including wheat, poultry meat, eggs, sunflower oil, cattle, cattle meat, salt, sugar, oats, buckwheat, rye, and millet. Six million tons of wheat and nine million tons of corn are currently blocked in Ukrainian ports, potentially causing disruptions and leading to higher prices for countries heavily dependent on Ukrainian wheat, such as Egypt, Lebanon, and nations in the Mediterranean. The situation is exacerbated by a possible food crisis due to drought and the need to divert to other sources like France, which is increasing its wheat production to help mitigate the shortfall. The war in Ukraine is highlighted to have far-reaching consequences through the 'geopolitics of wheat,' prompting calls for increased European production to meet the potential shortfall in exports from Ukraine and Russia.

Disclaimer:The above summary was generated by Tridge's proprietary AI model for informational purposes.

Original content

If the question of Europe's dependence on Russian gas is at the center of the conflict being played out between Russia and Ukraine, that of wheat is just as sensitive, if not even more worrying. Many countries are indeed very dependent on Ukrainian wheat. Its productions feed the world market because Ukraine has limited domestic needs and can therefore export massively. The country is indeed a grain giant. In 2018, Ukraine was the 5th world producer of corn, the 8th producer of wheat, the first producer of sunflower, the third producer of buckwheat. Overall, in the world, 12% of grain exports come from Ukraine. The country is also the world's third largest potato producer. But today, several Ukrainian agricultural products are subject to authorization or quotas to be exported. According to a decree issued on Sunday March 6, a license is now required to export wheat, poultry meat, eggs and sunflower oil. Quotas were also introduced for the export of cattle, cattle meat, salt, ...

Source: Bfmtv