Ukraine conflict: Middle East faces severe wheat crisis (Frontline, The Hindu) 

Frontline- The Hindu published an article on how the ongoing war in Ukraine could put the ongoing war in Ukraine could cause a severe wheat shortage in West Asia and North Africa. The Black Sea is of strategic importance for Ukraine’s wheat supply chain as exports to the MENA region are exclusively shipped by sea, David Laborde, a senior research fellow told DW. “The wheat that people are currently trading comes from the harvest of July 2021. That is before the invasion. Around one-quarter of the harvest is still available over the next three months,” Laborde said. “But the fact that people can’t operate in the port can create a shortage for countries such as Egypt and Lebanon.” Asked whether economic sanctions on Russia could affect the wheat market, Laborde said it depended on how they were implemented and whether they hit Russian-affiliated wheat companies. Global food security was in jeopardy even before the conflict, Laborde explained. The world experienced a rising number of crises in the past few years and the COVID-19 pandemic impacted many people’s lives, reducing incomes in developing regions. “The Russia-Ukraine conflict leaves us with a gloomy situation as we don’t know if the next wheat harvest and planting season is going to happen at all,” said Laborde. “The world can’t afford yet another production and trade obstacle.”