In the wake of the war, production thus suffers, which leads to a reduction in the supply of sunflower oil and a rise in prices.
It is particularly sensitive to foods made by deep-frying baths - such as chips.
Therefore, chip manufacturers are now looking for alternatives:
- This is a problem for the entire food industry and the lack of sunflower oil means that we temporarily replace sunflower oil with RSPO-certified segregated palm oil to be able to produce at all, said Sofie Ek, communications manager at Orkla in a press release on March 27.
The raw material that was previously phased out of Swedish food is now making a comeback.
This is because palm oil and sunflower oil have similar properties, but it also entails risks for the environment, among other things.
Quadrupled the price of cooking oil since the pandemic
- The palm oil sector causes both environmental problems and social problems because millions of people depend on the forest for their livelihood, says Maria Rydlund expert in tropical forests at the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency.
But sunflower oil can be replaced with more environmentally friendly Swedish alternatives.
- We will not switch to palm oil because we think rapeseed oil is a good alternative - albeit a little more expensive.
To begin with, we will use a mix of these oils when we fry our chips, says Joseph Bautista, marketing manager at Svenska lantchips.
Since the pandemic, the price of cooking oil has quadrupled and the reduction that the industry was looking forward to has instead been followed by a further increase.
In one year, the purchase price of cooking oil has quadrupled and only between February and March did the price double.
According to the chip manufacturer, this will not lead to a quadrupling of the price, as the end product in addition to the oil also consists of potatoes, bag material and cardboard.
In trade, a price increase of two to three kronor is estimated.