AFRICA.NIGERIA: Bread prices are expected to soar in Nigeria as the Russia-Ukraine tussle intensifies with an intended attack on wheat farms in Ukraine. Daily Express Tuesday shared footage containing how Russia set alight wheat farms in Ukraine.
The protracted crisis had evidently threatened food security in many African countries, including Nigeria.
Statista in its April 2022 report, revealed that a 500-gramme of bread was as expensive as $1.14. However, it was sold at different prices in some countries. For instance, it was sold for $0.91 in South Africa, $0.61 in Egypt, $0.49 in Morocco, $0.48 in Kenya, $0.82 in Ghana and $0.71 in Mauritius.
Russia’s non-stop invasion of Ukrainian wheat farms has hampered the export of the country’s farm produce through the Black Sea route into the global market. Russian forces were accused of stealing food supplies from Ukraine, according to reports.
Wheat and Sunflower: The Most Affected Food Supplies
Wheat and sunflower were part of the most sought-after foods globally, and the lingering crisis has affected their importations to African countries, according to United Nations. Crude oil prices have also soared in these countries, the UN added.
Significantly, Africans’ dependence on imported wheat and sunflower spiked between 2007 and 2019. Specifically, wheat imports in Africa spiked by 68 per cent within the period under review, and this pegged the imported tonnes at 47 million at the time, the UN documents.
Russia and Ukraine, per research, are the major exporters of wheat and sunflower to the following countries in Africa: Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, and Tunisia. Others include; Nigeria, Ethiopia, Sudan and South Africa which “accounts for 80 per cent of wheat imports” in the continent.
The United Nation projected that wheat consumption in Africa would rise to 76.5 million tonnes by 2025, and “48.3 million tonnes or 63.4 per cent is projected to be imported outside of the Continent.”
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