Browse Data and Analysis

According to information published by the United Nations Joint Coordination Centre, as of June 20, 2023, approximately one-quarter of all grain and oilseed volumes shipped under the Black Sea Grain Initiative (BSGI) were destined for the People’s Republic of China (PRC); making it the single largest recipient of food and feed commodities.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has adversely impacted the global economy, and Egypt too has felt the wave of effects. Russia’s war on Ukraine has relentlessly disrupted international trade of grains and soybeans as well as other commodities pounding a global economy that had since been improving robustly from the COVID-19 pandemic.

After more than 100 days of the Russian-Ukrainian war, wheat prices have surged almost 60 percent globally, hitting their highest levels in 14 years. Egypt, similar to the rest of the world, has been affected by the impacts of this war, especially since 82 percent of its wheat imports over the last five years originated in Russia and Ukraine.

A number of factors have converged over the last 18 months to send global agricultural commodity prices to near-record levels. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – and the potential loss of Ukrainian exports – was the latest development to push commodity prices higher.