'This is seismic': Just 10 weeks of global wheat inventories left: Expert to UNSC
(File Photo) Workers harvesting wheat
As the world grapples withthe wheat crisis, an expert on food security has told the United Nations Security Council(UNSC) that there are just ten weeks of global wheat inventories left.
Sara Menker while addressing the UNSC on conflict and global food security said conditions are worse than those experienced in 2007 and 2008.
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"The lowest grain inventory levels the world has ever seen are now occurring while access to fertilizers is highly constrained," she said, adding, "drought in wheat-growing regions around the world is the most extreme it’s been in over 20 years."
India which is the second largest producer of wheat had recently banned exports as prices have surged amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Russia and Ukraine are the top wheat producers in the world.
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Menker informed the UN that Russia and Ukraine exported 75 per cent of global sunflower oil supplies. "All Ukrainian ports remain closed making it impossible to move any of Ukraine's harvested grain across its borders," she said.
"Russian exports which also include fertilizer are limited because of Black Sea maritime hazards," she added. Odessa's mayor Gennady Trukhanov has accussed Russia of blocking the Black Sea with millions of tonnes of foodgrain trapped in the ports.
Menker added that government agenciesestimatewheat inventories were at 33 per cent of annual consumption while informing that cheap palm oil has nearly tripled in the last two years as she informed the UN members that global drought conditions for wheat is "the worst in over 20 years".
The food security expert told the UN that the US and Brazil which are the largest exporter of agricultural products are experiencing droughts including "major grain importers in the Middle East and Africa are also experiencing record droughts."
"Without substantial immediate and aggressive coordinated global actions, we stand the risk of an extraordinary amount of both human suffering and economic damage," she said while asserting that "this isn’t cyclical, this is seismic."
(With inputs from Agencies)
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