Food Prices Hit a Record and Now War Will Make It Much Worse
- Ukraine war exacerbates tight supplies to send prices soaring
- Ripples to reach supermarkets as UN food index hits record
A grain storage facility, operated by Bunge Ltd., at Nikolaev port in Nikolaev, Ukraine.
Photographer: Vincent Mundy/Bloomberg
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Russia’s invasion of Ukraine shocked commodities markets and propelled prices for the ingredients of modern life to unseen heights, and in the aftermath lies a looming crisis: More people likely will go hungry.
Combat in the fertile Black Sea region, and the ensuing international pullback in doing business with Russia, is strangling trade in wheat, vegetable oils, corn and the fertilizer to grow them, and tighter supplies get more expensive by the day. Global food prices jumped to a record last month, according to the United Nations, just as war started in the world’s breadbasket.