Russia’s War Against Ukraine Puts More Than 400M People on Brink of Food Shortages

Russia’s war against Ukraine has become not only a marker of the effectiveness of the global security system but also put more than 400 million people on the brink of food shortages. This is the number of consumers our country provided with cereals and cereal products, vegetable oil, honey, and more.

In particular, over the previous marketing year, Ukraine’s grain exports totaled 44.9 million tonnes. This year, since Russia has blocked seaports (60% of grain shipments were made by sea) and is waging a large-scale war, about 30% of the sown areas will be unused. This will inevitably affect export performance, as well as the global food market, especially the markets of the Middle East, Europe, and North Africa.

The cereals and maize price index has already risen by 4 points and will keep rising if the war in Ukraine drags on.

The blockade of sea routes significantly reduces the turnover of agricultural products as rail and road haulage (via Poland, Romania, etc.) have their limits and other restrictions.

Therefore, it is now in the interests of most European countries, the Middle East, and North Africa to promote Ukraine’s promptest victory. The least that they can do is to develop new logistics routes together, reduce transportation costs, review quotas for Ukrainian exporters set in the EU, etc.

Natalia Tolub