Research: food not scarce, but more expensive due to Ukraine war
The war in Ukraine will not lead to food shortages in the Netherlands or other EU countries in the short term. However, daily groceries will probably become even more expensive. So says Wageningen Economic Research (WEcR), which has mapped out the current situation at the request of agriculture minister Henk Staghouwer.
The war caused a number of bottlenecks in food production, such as limited availability of grains for animal feed production and vegetable oils and the sharply increased prices of energy and fertilizers. Until now, this is still “to a limited extent” having an effect on consumer prices, but the effect is expected to become stronger soon.
The researchers attribute the sharp rise in prices of many raw materials mainly to “panic and unrest about possible shortages”. In view of the still large stocks, they call that fear “unfounded”. There are still sufficient alternatives available for most raw materials that are less widely available due to the war.