With the stalemate of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, global food prices have soared, triggering a global food crisis. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Ukraine and Russia together account for nearly 30 percent of global wheat exports and are an important global "breadbasket." Russia is a global wheat producer and exporter, while Ukraine is the second largest supplier of cereals to the European Union, and African and Asian markets also rely on Ukrainian food. In its Global Trade Watch report, the World Bank pointed out that Lebanon, Egypt and other countries rely heavily on Ukrainian wheat imports, more than half of Lebanon's wheat imports are supplied by Ukraine, and Russia and Ukraine account for one-third of the world's grain. As the world's two largest grain exporters, the Russo-Ukrainian War has caused a greater impact on the global food market, causing food prices in many countries around the world to rise.
According to the Ukrainian Maritime Agency, Ukraine closed important ports in the country after the outbreak of conflict. According to the Wall Street Journal, spring is also the sowing season in Ukraine, and under the continuous conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the corn planting in Ukraine has also been greatly affected. In order to ensure the normal supply of grain in the country, the Ukrainian government announced on March 9 that it would ban the export of major agricultural products such as wheat and oats, as well as other important food crops such as corn and buckwheat. The move also sounded a wake-up call for other countries in the world that depend on Ukraine's food imports.
In order to avoid the "food crisis", many countries around the world are waging "food defense wars" to ensure the normal supply of domestic agricultural products. The Egyptian government has proposed a ban on the export of wheat, flour, lentils and legumes. Indonesia, the largest producer of palm oil, has also stepped up restrictions on palm oil exports. Bulgaria, Argentina, Turkey and other countries have also issued bans on grain and oil exports. Ukraine's measures to ban the export of grains such as wheat have affected countries such as the Gambia, Lebanon, Moldova, Djibouti, Libya, Tunisia and Pakistan, which import wheat mainly from Ukraine.
Subsequently, the Lebanese government issued a ban on the 11th, prohibiting the export of local food. Faced with the threat of wheat supply shortage, Hungary, Bulgaria and Moldova, as wheat exporters, have also announced the cessation of wheat exports, and Moldova has also announced the cessation of corn and sugar exports. In the Black Sea region, Bulgaria is rapidly increasing local food stocks in case the export ban imposed by neighboring countries affects domestic food supplies. Food-producing countries such as Indonesia and Argentina have followed suit through a series of policies of food export trade, thereby ensuring a normal supply of food in the country. For countries that rely heavily on imported food, such as Japan, they are also actively buying food from other food exporting countries.
Although many countries around the world are actively responding to food security issues, food prices in many countries are still soaring. In Egypt, the price of bread without government subsidies has risen by 50 percent, and in Tunisia, prices of edible oil, sugar and semolina have risen, and the Tunisian central bank has warned that the Russian-Ukrainian conflict will increase inflationary pressures in the country, according to North African media. Food prices in Australia rose 20 per cent. If the Russian-Ukrainian conflict continues to stalemate, it is bound to further increase global food security and have a greater impact on food imports from Asia, Europe, Africa and other countries. For Russia, Western sanctions have led many countries to be afraid to buy Russian goods, and banks are reluctant to finance Russian trade in goods, making it more difficult for Russian agricultural products to enter the global market. In this food crisis, although many countries have taken corresponding measures to ensure stable domestic food supplies, people in some countries have felt the pressure of rising food prices.
Since the outbreak of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, it has had a great impact on the food security of many countries around the world. If the Russian-Ukrainian conflict continues to stalemate, food prices may continue to rise, especially in Africa and the Middle East, which import large amounts of food from Ukraine, will be more affected, and Europe will also face food security problems to some extent. Under the severe threat of global food security, the United States and the European Union continue to impose economic sanctions on Russia, resulting in an increase in international oil prices, which may trigger an increase in the price of oil for agricultural machinery, thereby increasing the production cost of crops and causing a global food crisis. All in all, food is the foundation of a country, and for a country, food is essential. More importantly, food should not be allowed to become a weapon of war.