It’s not just energy: The Ukraine conflict is sending wheat prices soaring, pounding poor countries hardest (Fortune)

Fortune Magazine published an article explaining that globally, many countries are suffering due to the disruption of wheat and other crops that come from the Black Sea Region. The article writes how this conflict has affected, for example, Indonesia, Egypt, and Turkey. combined furnish around 80% of all wheat imports to Turkey and Egypt, and Ukraine ships over one-fifth of Indonesia’s deliveries from abroad. And for families in the Mideast and North Africa, wheat is the staple of staples, accounting for one-quarter of the calories they consume, twice the share in the U.S. and Europe. “Nations in those regions are scrambling to find supplies and are paying much, much higher prices for that wheat,” says senior research fellow Joseph Glauber. “Their governments remember the lessons of the Arab Spring, when food price hikes were the spark that caused rioting and overthrew the regime in Egypt. They will do everything possible to hold prices down, but it will be a blow to their finances.”