Black Sea Grain Trade Collapse Fuels Global Food Crisis
The ongoing Russia-Ukraine war has halted the Black Sea grain trade, exacerbating a global food crisis. The conflict is also disrupting fertilizer prices and threatening millions of people with acute food insecurity.
According to experts at the Council on Foreign Relations, the situation is dire. A super El Niño is forecasted to shrink the Southern Hemisphere's harvest, while drought in the Northern Hemisphere has cut the U.S. wheat crop to its smallest since 1970.
The Black Sea ports, which account for 17% of the world's traded grain exports, have been shut down due to Russian precision-guided munitions and Ukrainian drone attacks. Russia's Novorossiysk port, which loads an additional 40% of the country's grain exports, was crippled by a Ukrainian drone strike on August 12.
The crisis has already driven wheat prices to a three-and-a-half-year high of nearly $8 per bushel, and they may rise further. The economic effect of Russia's strike campaign is estimated to be severe, with customs data showing that grain exports fell 76% year-over-year in the first two weeks of August.