Russia's Invasion Of Ukraine Could Lead To Spikes In These Food Products In Addition To Oil

Experts are expecting oil and gas prices to spike due to the European crisis, though some of Russia and Ukraine’s largest exports are expected to impact costs for other products overseas and stateside.

Officials said that outside of energy, the price of products such as wheat, barley, corn, copper, and nickel are likely going to be on the rise as supply chains already impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic took another hit due to the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

"A Russian invasion of Ukraine has the potential to create devastating disruption to supply chains across industries, from energy to agriculture, high tech, aviation, and automobiles," Per Hong, a senior partner at consulting firm Kearney, wrote on consultancy.eu.

"Supply disruptions in these and other key commodities will trigger price increases for economically vital products such as batteries, and hinder the manufacture of semiconductors, jet engines, automobiles, and some medicines," he added.

"The agricultural sector will also be hit hard, as our interconnected global supply chains are sensitive to even small disruptions in one region."

Alan Holland the CEO and founder of sourcing technology company Keelvar called Ukraine the “breadbasket of Europe” to CNBC, and the invasion is going to cause the supply chain to be “hit hard.”

“Even though harvesting season is still a few months away, a prolonged conflict would create bread shortages (and increase consumer prices) in the fall, Holland added.

According to analysts, Russia and Ukraine combine to account for upwards of 30 percent of global wheat exports, and Ukraine accounts for at least 13 percent of corn exports, both of which will be drying up during the invasion.

The conflict is also expected to strain supplies of semiconductor chips, which were already experiencing a shortage due to the pandemic.

“Rising food prices would only be exacerbated with additional price shocks, especially if core agricultural areas in Ukraine are seized by Russian loyalists,” Hong said to CNBC.


“The U.S. chip industry heavily relies on Ukrainian-sourced neon and Russia also exports a number of elements critical to the manufacturing of semiconductors, jet engines, automobiles, and medicine.” 

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