Ukraine sets export quotas on wheat, key agricultural products

Ukraine, one of the world’s top wheat producers, has set export restrictions on the crop and other agricultural products amid Russia’s brutal military invasion, the Interfax-Ukraine news agency reported.

According to a government decree published on Sunday evening, a license issued by the authorities is now required in order to export wheat, poultry meat, eggs and sunflower oil.

Quotas were also introduced for the export of cattle and beef, salt, sugar, oats, buckwheat, rye and millet.

The conflict has pushed wheat prices higher as Russia is the world’s top exporter of the cereal and Ukraine is the fourth, according to estimates by the US Department of Agriculture.

The United Nations’ World Food Programme on Friday warned of a looming food crisis in Ukraine in conflict areas and said disruptions in production and exports could lead to food insecurity globally.

The body noted that with Russia and Ukraine providing some 29 percent of the global wheat trade, serious disruptions in production and exports could send food prices – already at 10-year highs – even higher.

The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said last week that its food price index for February was up nearly four percent from January.

“[As the] Food Price Index measures average prices over the month, the February reading only partly incorporates market effects stemming from the conflict in Ukraine, ” the FAO said on Friday.