The "hummus bowl" may disappear from the tables due to the Ukrainian war!

Farmers have warned of a global shortage of chickpeas, threatening its supply to consuming countries, in a development that could have dire consequences for countries that depend on pulses as a primary source of protein, according to the Guardian newspaper.

Chickpea supplies could drop by as much as 20% this year, according to the GBC Association, which monitors data from farmers, importers, exporters and others, due to the impact of "difficult weather conditions and the war in Ukraine" on production.

Western sanctions on Russia that followed the invasion of Ukraine halted shipments from Russia, which is one of the largest exporters of chickpeas and accounts for about a quarter of global trade, according to Navneet Singh Chhabra, director of Shree Shilla, a global company of chickpea traders.

Meanwhile, Ukraine was unable to plant its total chickpea crop due to the war, as the quantity exported to Europe was reduced by 50,000 tons.

"Russia exports a minimum of 200,000-250,000 tons a year. And when the war started last February, supplies were completely cut off," Jeff van Beveninge, CEO of Columbia International Grain, told Reuters.

"When the Russo-Ukrainian war broke out, demand boomed. We saw strong demand from China, and from clients in Pakistan and Bangladesh," he added.

The newspaper notes that "demand is outstripping supplies, as buyers from South Asia and the Mediterranean try to boost dwindling stocks, after Turkey imposed a ban on exports, while revenues from Mexico to Australia fell as a result of weather-related problems, including floods." .

The price of a range of hummus products in major British supermarkets has risen by as much as 100% since January, according to data seen by the Guardian from research group Assosia.

In the United States, chickpeas are now 12% more expensive than they were last year and about 17% higher than they were before the coronavirus pandemic, according to NielsenIQ data seen by Reuters.

The Russian-Ukrainian war has disrupted the exit of basic agricultural crops, including grain, and made food more expensive around the world, threatening to exacerbate the food crisis and the risk of famine, which may in turn lead to political instability in developing countries.

Russia and Ukraine together export nearly a third of the world's wheat and barley, and more than 70 percent of sunflower oil, and are major suppliers of corn, while Russia is the world's largest producer of fertilizers.

Global food prices had already soared before the invasion, but the war made matters worse, blocking the arrival of some 20 million tons of Ukrainian grain to the Middle East, North Africa and parts of Asia.

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