radually.has triggered a similar wave of bans focused on food."It's like déjà vu all over again," Evenett said.
Evenett said the dynamic was"still unfolding" and likely to get worse in the months to come. Ukraine's summer growing season for wheat is being disrupted as fighting keeps farmers away from their fields and pulls workers off to war. And grocery stores in Spain, Greece and Britain are already introducing restrictions on the amount of cereals or oil that people can buy.
Those measures will add to skyrocketing prices for vegetable oils, driven by a disruption in the supply from Ukraine, the world's largest producer of sunflower oil.Governments that put these restrictions in place often argue that their duty is to put the needs of their own citizens first, and the WTO's rules allow countries to impose temporary measures for national security or safety. But the measures can easily backfire, helping to push up global prices further.
Food accounts for about 40 per cent of consumer spending in sub-Saharan Africa, they said, and around 85 per cent of the region's wheat supplies are imported. "I'm very concerned about the pending food crisis and steps we need to take," she told a group of journalists in Washington on Tuesday.Okonjo-Iweala, who recently visited Brazil, a major agricultural exporter, said President Jair Bolsonaro had expressed concerns about Brazil's ability to obtain fertiliser, which typically comes from the Black Sea region.