Wheat, sunflower, corn… Cereal and vegetable oil markets have been disrupted by the war in Ukraine.

As a result, the prices of agricultural raw materials have soared, reaching their "highest levels ever recorded", according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

And the trend is not down: on the one hand, the conflict is bogged down between Russia and Ukraine, the main world exporters of these foodstuffs, on the other, the threat weighs on the next harvests.

The FAO index tracks the monthly change in the international prices of a basket of basic food products.

While it had already beaten in February its record since its creation in 1990, and recorded in March an increase of 12.6%.

It is above all the FAO cereals index which is driving this increase, with a growth of 17.1% compared to February “under the effect of strong increases in the prices of wheat and all coarse grains”.

Ukrainian ports still blocked

The blocking of Ukrainian ports, kyiv being the world's fifth largest exporter of wheat, explains this historic high and this surge in prices since February 24, the date of the Russian invasion.

From the beginning of the conflict, the Sea of ​​Azov was closed to navigation, blocking exports from Berdiansk or even Mariupol.

In addition, maize prices also "registered a monthly increase of 19.1%, reaching a record level, as did those of barley and sorghum", indicates the FAO in its March report.

Oil Rush

Food prices are also driven up by vegetable oils, whose FAO index "jumped by 23.2%, driven by the rise in the price of sunflower oil", which is the world's leading exporter. 'Ukraine.

At the same time, the prices of palm, soybean and rapeseed oils, on which many industrialists refer, are rising sharply "under the effect of an increase in world import demand due to supply shortages. 'supply of sunflower oil'.

In France, the shelves of oils, flours or pasta in stores have been subject for a few weeks to more supply tensions, due in particular to precautionary purchases by consumers fearing stock shortages.

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  • Agriculture

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  • Palm oil

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  • Cereals

  • War in Ukraine

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