As countries hoard staples & restrict exports, can global food crisis be avoided? Experts discuss

The food security concerns replaced headlines of a pandemic early this year. However export bans from various countries are making these concerns more of an uncontrollable reality.

Russia’s elongated war on Ukraine has only further strained global supply chains which were just recovering from a pandemic. This has forced many countries to protect their own supply by not only banning exports but also raising imports.

According to the International Food Policy Research Institute, export restrictions have affected 17 percent of the world’s food as measured by the amount of calories traded by early April. India’s recent wheat ban will substantially increase this number.

Increase in Chinese buying and continuing war has experts believing that wheat prices could soar by 40 percent this year itself.

Adverse global weather has only made matters worse with droughts in the American continent and a heat wave in India destroying the existing crop.

Staples around the world have been disrupted by similar triggers, making food a luxury in many emerging economies.

So what can governments do to protect its citizens and how much further will prices rise? To discuss this CNBC-TV18 spoke to Ole Hansen, Head of Commodity Strategy at Saxo Bank and Carlos Mera, Head of Agri Commodities Research at Rabo Bank.