Crazy increase in wheat prices worldwide - Economist

"Wheat prices" rose to record levels amid growing fears of a lack of supplies due to the Russian-Ukrainian war, which raised additional concerns due to the rise in global "inflation" in "food prices".

The reason for the global fear of supply interruption is that the production of wheat by Ukraine and Russia worldwide represents about 30% of the wheat traded in the world.

Many analysts announced that as a result of the foregoing, wheat prices on the Chicago Stock Exchange, which is the international standard for wheat prices, jumped by more than 59 percent since last week, to reach levels of $13.40 per bushel by the end of the week's trading.

In the same context, European wheat milled in Paris set a new record, reaching a price of 406 euros per ton, forcing agricultural and food experts to warn of increasing food insecurity in poor countries.

A bushel is a measure of volume used to measure dry agricultural commodities such as wheat, rice, or corn, and a bushel of wheat equals about 27 kilograms.

The large increases in wheat prices reduced the ability of grain-importing countries to purchase wheat, as Turkey, a major buyer of Russian wheat, was forced to reduce its volumes in an international tender from its original objectives, in addition to increasing the budget deficits of these countries.

In the same context, analysts and investors are concerned about the planting of this year's spring crop including wheat, corn, and barley, and the winter wheat planted during the European autumn may not be harvested in summer due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

In addition to grain prices, farmers around the world are likely to feel the impact of higher costs because Russia and Belarus are the main producers of fertilizers.