WTO Head Has Issued A Warning About A Global Food Shortage

According to the head of the World Trade Organization, a food crisis sparked by the Ukraine war might endure for years if no action is taken.

Wheat and fertilizer shortages might be particularly damaging to African countries, according to WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.

Because of the war, millions of tonnes of grain are lying in warehouses and Ukrainian ports, unable to be exported.

As grain prices rise, she described it as “really sad.”

Ukraine is a major global wheat exporter, accounting for 9% of the global market. It also controls 42 percent of the worldwide sunflower oil market and 16 percent of the global maize market.

Between 20 and 25 million tonnes of wheat are stranded in Ukraine due to gridlock caused by a Russian embargo of Black Sea ports and Russian and Ukrainian mines along the coast, while global grain prices continue to rise.

Wheat prices were up 59 percent from last year, sunflower oil was up 30%, and maize was up 23 percent, according to Ms. Okonjo-Iweala.

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The UN is driving efforts to build a “grain corridor” for tankers leaving Odesa and other Ukrainian ports, with a Turkish naval escort.

But Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said Ukraine needs to clear mines from its Black Sea ports.

Meanwhile, Ukraine has stated that it needs “sufficient security guarantees” before it can begin exports, citing concerns that Moscow could use the possible corridor to launch a maritime strike on Odesa.

Ukraine produces enough food to sustain 400 million people on a regular basis, but Russia is accused of turning it into a stealth missile, with blockaded ports cutting supplies to a trickle.

Several countries in the Middle East and Africa, in particular, will be affected by supply shortages.

Libya and Eritrea import more than 40% of their wheat from Ukraine, while Lebanon imports more than 60%.

But the agony is felt all around the world; wheat prices have risen by a third since Russia invaded.