March 25, 2022
World Braces for Food Shortages
While Australia and other wealthy countries will see shortages of some items and skyrocketing prices for others, many of the world’s poorer nations won’t be so lucky with hundreds of millions of people facing severe hunger in 2022. The situation was bad enough with skyrocketing fertiliser, fuel and shipping costs, but recent events in the Ukraine have made everything a hell of a lot worse. Russia and Ukraine alone account for roughly 30 per cent of global wheat and barley exports, while 40% of the world’s fertilisers are supplied by Belarus and Russia. The sanctions on Russia and Belarus have therefore removed key ingredients from the world’s food supply, causing wheat and other grain prices, to absolutely explode. Grain-rich countries like Moldova and Hungary, have put bans on the export of grains and fertilisers as they desperately move to hold on to their own supplies. EU farmers have called for a suspension of Europe’s 'Green New Deal' farming restrictions, with no success.
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