Russia and Ukraine supply the vast majority of wheat that reaches dinner tables in the Middle East, much of it in the form of flour, bread and pasta manufactured in Turkey. “Countries that import a lot of grain from Russia and Ukraine are getting hit right away,” says Chris Barrett, an agricultural economist at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. “Their contracts are getting breached. They’re not getting deliveries, and now they’re scrambling to get grain from elsewhere.”
Lebanon, which relies on Russia and Ukraine for 96 per cent of its wheat, has called for UN assistance in finding alternative supplies. The country is battling the fallout of an economic crisis that has caused food prices to rise 628 per cent in two years, leaving 77 per cent of households unable to afford basic nutrition.
“If this is a prolonged conflict, even if it lasts just six months, it is unthinkable what the impact may be,” says Reem Nada, Middle East and North Africa communications director for the UN World Food Programme. “Countries like Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, Algeria and Morocco all depend heavily on wheat imports. Food is becoming much more expensive, and someone is going to have to pay, whether that’s the people themselves or their governments, through subsidies.”
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