Cooking Oils in ‘Perfect Storm’ as War Slashes Black Sea Exports
- ‘Cupboard is bare,’ says analyst, as world supplies dwindle
- Sunflower and corn seeding in Black Sea areas will be down
A customer browses cooking oil inside a supermarket in Moscow in January.
Photographer: Andrey Rudakov/BloombergCooking oils are facing “a perfect storm,” with as much as 60% of sunflower oil exports from the Black Sea region being delayed in the current marketing year because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to James Fry, a veteran analyst and chairman of LMC International, a consultancy.
Sunflower and corn plantings, which should take place soon, are also likely be smaller in Ukraine and Russia, Fry said in remarks prepared for a conference. Only a month ago, the company expected sunflower oil exports from the Black Sea to increase by well over 2 million tons to 13.5 million tons in 2021-22, Fry said, adding the question is how much of that will be lost because of the war.