Panic buying hits Europe again amid crisis in Ukraine
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Severe supply shortages will disproportionately affect poorer countries, owing to their greater reliance on Ukrainian and Russian wheat, according to media reports.
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Partially emptied shelves at a Rewe grocery store in Germany (Reuters)
Fearing food shortages as a result of supply chain disruptions caused by the situation in Ukraine, residents in some European countries have begun mass purchases of goods, according to a report in the British newspaper Financial Times.
Residents in northern Italy are stockpiling pasta in large quantities, pharmacies in Norway are out of iodine due to security concerns about Ukraine's nuclear power plants, and trade experts in Germany are reporting panic buying of goods, according to the news outlet.
Italian Sabrina Di Leto was quoted as saying by Financial Times that "I bought 20 packs of pasta and several kilos of flour last week in preparation for shortages. We're also looking at converting our backyard into a vegetable garden and a henhouse in order to be self-sufficient in case we go to war and food supplies become scarce."
Ukraine and Russia continue to be the world's leading suppliers of wheat, as well as sunflower, rapeseed, linseed, soybean oil, and animal feed. Ukraine accounts for half of the world's sunflower oil exports, with Russia accounting for the remaining 21%.
See more: The global wheat supply crisis
Meanwhile, the same report added that severe supply shortages will disproportionately affect poorer countries, owing to their greater reliance on Ukrainian and Russian wheat than Europe.
On his account, Secretary-General of the Norwegian Refugee Council Jan Egeland has warned that Somalia, which imports 90 percent of its wheat from Ukraine and Russia, may face severe food insecurity.
"With wheat prices soaring and drought worsening, the number of people that cannot be fed will explode," Egeland tweeted.
However, the report claimed that the panic has not spread throughout Europe. The Carrefour supermarket chain, which is present in France, Spain, and Italy, stated that there is no scarcity.
"There's been some people stocking up in France, and a bit more in Spain where we've sold out of sunflower oil in some places, but overall this behavior remains marginal and the market is functioning pretty much as normal," Carrefour added as quoted by the media outlet.
It is worth mentioning that the Director-general of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, Qu Dongyu, has lately said that disruption to agricultural production in Russia and Ukraine could seriously exacerbate global food insecurity.
In a statement, he outlined how the two countries play a significant role in the world's food production and supply.
“Russia is the world’s largest exporter of wheat, and Ukraine is the fifth-largest. Together, they provide 19% of the world’s barley supply, 14% of wheat, and 4% of maize, making up more than one-third of global cereal exports,” he stated.
Food prices, which had been rising since the second half of 2020, reached an all-time high in February 2022 as a result of high demand, input and transportation costs not to mention port disruptions.
According to UN data, global wheat and barley prices increased by 31% between 2021 and 2022. Rapeseed and sunflower oil prices have risen by more than 60%. Fertilizer prices have risen as a result of high demand and volatile natural gas prices. As a result, the price of urea, a key nitrogen fertilizer, has more than tripled in the last year.
