World's food crisis testing West's resolve on sanctions
Concern grows as hunger problems expand globally
WASHINGTON >> In Yemen, the price of bread surged 35% the week Russia invaded Ukraine. Wheat mills lacking grain in Lebanon have halted operations in recent months, forcing bakeries to shutter. And in Kenya, cooking oil is scarce.
As the United States and Europe contemplate their next rounds of sanctions to starve Russia of the revenue that is funding its war, there is growing concern that the fallout is fueling an alarming hunger problem around the world that will not easily be reversed. Policymakers have been scrambling to cobble together plans to open up supply chains and provide food financing to developing countries, but the combination of rising energy costs and constrained exports from Russia and Ukraine is threatening some of the most vulnerable populations around the world.
President Vladimir Putin of Russia has embraced and exacerbated the crisis, blocking exports of food and grain from the region and using the shortages as leverage to get Western sanctions rolled back. Top officials from the United States and Europe have so far rebuffed such offers while also debating how to extend sanctions without widening the collateral damage.
The region's critical role in the food supply chain has meant a cascading effect, sending global food prices soaring. Much of the world's grains and fertilizer flow from Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. Russia and Ukraine combined export about 30% of the world's wheat and 75% of its sunflower oil. Cutting off those supplies, along with the uncertainty about the duration and scope of Western sanctions, has prompted other governments to block exports as nations try to stockpile goods.
President Joe Biden said this month that he is working on a plan to build temporary silos on the borders of Ukraine and Poland so grain that Russia is blocking from moving through the Black Sea can be transported by rail to Europe and beyond.
“I'm working closely with our European partners to get 20 million tons of grains locked in Ukraine out onto the market to help bring down food prices,” Biden said at an AFL-CIO convention. “But it's taking time.”
In its latest Global Economic Prospects report, the World Bank said that nearly half of the people in low-income countries are facing food shortages, which often lead to social unrest.
“There's a severe risk of malnutrition and deepening hunger and even of famine in some areas,” David Malpass, president of the World Bank, said as he warned of global stagflation in early June.
People in emerging economies often spend the bulk of their daily budgets on food, and those expenses are climbing. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, food prices in May were up by nearly 30% from a year ago, pushed higher by rising cereal and meat prices.
Soaring fertilizer prices, driven by sanctions on Russia and Belarus, along with high global energy prices, are broadening the scope of food shortages by making it more expensive to produce and transport food around the world.
“Without fertilizers, shortages will spread from