Cooking oil prices that had already been rising steadily due to the pandemic, also rose sharply when the war forced Ukraine, the world’s largest exporter of sunflower seed oil, to stop shipments. That price spilled over into other oils. By April, Indonesia, which exports 30 million tons of edible oils, the most in the world, implemented a ban on some types of palm oil exports. Kazakhstan, Egypt, Kosovo and Turkey have also banned exports in edible oils.

Malaysia, the world’s second-largest palm oil producer, has moved in the opposite direction, proposing a reduction in export taxes by as much as half. The move is intended to help fill the shortage in global palm oil supplies.

Rising prices for wheat, sunflower meal (a byproduct of sunflower oil), soy, and corn, have also made feedstocks for chicken, pigs and cows more expensive, driving up poultry and meat prices. Argentina banned beef exports even before the war to control its spiraling inflation. Prices are soaring in India and Thailand, and in the UK, chicken prices are rising so fast, it’s on track to become as expensive as beef.

Meanwhile, fertilizer prices, also subject to export bans from China, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Ukraine, have increased 30% since the start of 2022, on top of an 80% increase in 2021, according to the World Bank. This will continue to drive up prices for food across the board.

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