War will lead to food shortages rather than oil?

Everyone is talking about the crude oil crisis because of Russia and Ukraine war but the food crisis seems to be inevitable in the coming days. The crisis is not limited to two nations, across the world all nations are jeopardized with food security. Two of the largest food producers are on the battlefield. Crude oil prices are begun to raise in all countries is the first sign because of war. It’s not just oil, there are many commodities produced in Ukraine like Wheat, Cooking oil, and Sugar. As per the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Ukraine plays a major role in the global food system.

The United Nations (UN) assesses that food prices surge a minimum of 22% in the coming days. Russia is the world’s largest exporter with 18% of wheat whereas Ukraine is the 5^th largest exporter of wheat with 7% of world sales. Two nations who are on the battlefield collectively exported one-fourth of wheat to other nations. Wheat becomes unavailable to people outside of Russia, & the Ukraine harvest is ruined by the war. Ukraine has already imposed a ban on food exports. Egypt, Turkey, and Bangladesh are the biggest wheat importers which are immediate food victims of war in terms of food security. It is important for all other nations to protect their internal food products.

If we see the figures for cooking oil it will be more shocking. Both Ukraine and Russia have exported together 75% of cooking oil in global sales. Though there is no ban on Sunflower Oil exports by two nations, production has stopped in these nations because of war. India is the first suffering nation in terms of sunflower oil. The country imports 90% of sunflower oil from Russia and Ukraine. The prices of cooking oil surged nearly 30/- per liter since the war begins. Wheat and Sunflower Oil prices have surged by 33% and 60% respectively since 2020 coronavirus followed by war. Though Russia and Ukraine are not leading producers of sugar, the supply chain disconnected across the world causes an increase in sugar prices as well. Not one or two nations, the entire world would face severe consequences because of the war directly or indirectly.