Ukraine conflict prompts countries to hoard grain, endangering global food supply
www.politico.com
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U.S. officials warn that restricting food exports in the wake of Russia's Ukraine invasion is exacerbating a global food crisis.
That's prompted governments across Europe, Africa and the Middle East to scramble for a new source of nutrition for millions of people. To make matters worse, many of the countries who could help fill those voids — including Hungary, Argentina and Turkey — have placed restrictions on exports of key food products, arguing they need to keep enough supply for their own populations. China has also signaled it will likely hold back on rice exports, another major source of global nutrition, as food insecurity grows. Beijing already holds half of the world's wheat supply in storage and its panic buying is further driving up prices. "It's like pandemic hoarding, but it's not toilet paper, it's millions of bushels of grain that normally feed large portions of the world," said a Biden administration official. "Countries are instead sitting on those supplies because they aren't sure when this will end." After the wheat market reached an all-time high earlier this week, U.S.…