Households face months of sharp increases in food prices and growing gaps on shelves as the war in Ukraine causes major disruption to supplies of key ingredients, industry leaders have warned.
Producers called on the government to urgently convene a national food security council to shore up supplies as a drastic drop-off in exports of wheat, sunflower oil, fish and fertiliser begins to wreak havoc along Europe's already stretched food supply chains.
The Food and Drink Federation (FDF) said that soaring prices will have knock-on effects on the cost of a broad range of staple goods. Wheat is used in feed for egg-laying hens, as well as pigs and dairy cattle, for example, while sunflower oil is found in processed foods from spreads to ready meals and crisps.
“The war in Ukraine is causing considerable supply chain disruption and ingredient shortages across the food and drink industry,” said the FDF’s head of international trade Dominic Goudie. He called on the government to “mobilise the full arsenal of tools at our disposal” to protect households, including millions of vulnerable families, from further price rises and support companies through “an unprecedented period of turbulence”.
Official figures released this week showed food price inflation is gathering pace. Increases are expected to accelerate later this year, deepening a cost of living crisis that threatens to push 1.3 million people into absolute poverty. Inflation jumped to 6.2 per cent in February and is forecast to surpass 8 per cent by the autumn, causing the worst drop in living standards since at least the 1950s.
Russia and Ukraine account for more than 60 per cent of the world supply of sunflower oil and a third of wheat exports. While Russia has continued to ship some wheat, exports from Ukraine have all but halted since Vladimir Putin launched his assault four weeks ago. Sunflower oil prices have more than doubled since the war began and Mintec estimates that Europe has just three weeks of supplies left.
