The Russian invasion of Ukraine has further fueled already high food and energy costs, hitting the poorest people hardest:
A man uses cooking oil to fry Mandazi, a type of fried bread, on a street in the low-income Kibera neighborhood of Nairobi, Kenya, Wednesday, April 20, 2022.
Global cooking oil prices have been rising since the COVID-19 pandemic began for multiple reasons, from poor harvests in South America to virus-related labor shortages and steadily increasing demand from the biofuel industry. The war in Ukraine — which supplies nearly half of the world's sunflower oil, on top of the 25% from Russia — has interrupted shipments and sent cooking oil prices spiraling.
Some supermarkets in Turkey have imposed limits on the amount of vegetable oil households can purchase after concerns about shortages sparked panic-buying. Some stores in Spain, Italy and the United Kingdom also have set limits. German shoppers are posting photos on social media of empty shelves where sunflower and canola oil usually sit. In a recent tweet, Kenya's main power company warned that thieves are draining toxic fluid from electrical transformers and reselling it as cooking oil.
The high cost of cooking oil is partly behind recent protests in Jakarta. Indonesia has imposed price caps on palm oil at home and will ban exports, creating a new squeeze worldwide. Palm oil has been sought as an alternative for sunflower oil and is used in many products, from cookies to cosmetics. Big companies are feeling the pain, too. London-based Unilever — maker of Dove soap and Hellmann's mayonnaise — said it has contracts for critical ingredients like palm oil for the first half of the year. But it warned investors that its costs could rise significantly in the second half.
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