The demand for cooking oil and flour in Germany rose sharply at times after the start of the Ukraine war.

According to data from the Federal Statistical Office, sales of cooking oil in the food retail trade in the week from March 7th to 13th were more than twice as high as in September 2021, with an increase of 123 percent.

Demand for flour even tripled in the same period.

The increase was 206 percent.

Russia and Ukraine are among the most important grain exporters in the world.

Ukraine is also a major producer of edible oil, especially sunflower oil.

In the following week, March 14-20, sales of flour and cooking oil fell 19 percent and cooking oil and cooking oil fell 22 percent from the previous week.

"It is not possible to see from the data whether this decline can be explained by a drop in demand in the population, or whether the food retail traders were no longer able to fill the shelves," it said.

Politician warns against buying hamsters

Compared to the time before the Ukraine war, however, sales of flour and cooking oil were still significantly higher in the week from March 14th to 20th.

Food retailers sold almost two and a half times as much flour (up 148 percent) and almost three quarters more cooking oil (up 73 percent) than in September 2021.

Federal Food Minister Cem Özdemir and retailers recently appealed to citizens not to stock up unnecessarily.

"Please no hamster purchases, there is no reason for that.

We have ensured the supply,” said the Greens politician on the “RTL Direkt” program last week.

Despite the Russian export stop for grain, there will be no problem with the supply in Germany in the medium term, said the Vice President of the German Trade Association (HDE), Björn Fromm, on ZDF.

Not only is demand increasing, so are prices.

According to estimates by the retail sector, food prices in particular should continue to rise significantly.

Even before the outbreak of the Ukraine war, prices "across the product range" had risen by a good five percent, said Josef Sanktjohanser, President of the German Retail Association (HDE), the "Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung" on Friday.

This was the result of increased energy costs.

"The second wave of price increases is coming, and it will certainly be in the double digits," said Sanktjohanser.

The first retail chains have already started to raise prices.

“We will soon be able to see this on the price tags everywhere in the supermarkets.” “For the time being, there will be no more sustained downward movement in prices,” said Sanktjohanser.

Retail chains such as Aldi, Edeka and Globus had recently announced price increases.

Farmer's President Joachim Rukwied said that the food supply was secured for the foreseeable future for a year.

"But beyond that time horizon, it's difficult to forecast."

At the level of the Central Coordination for Trade and Agriculture (ZKHL), the leading trade and agricultural industry associations exchange views on the consequences of the Ukraine war.

ZKHL Managing Director Hermann-Josef Nienhoff said the current wave of price increases has not yet reached consumers.

The ZKHL was brought into being after persistent protests from the agricultural sector against the pricing policy of the trading groups.