Wheat futures prices are up 60% so far this year and after a heat wave damaged crops in India, the country announced last week an immediate ban on wheat exports. The Indian government said that a spike in prices is threatening the security of a vital commodity both for india and for other vulnerable countries. India is the world's second-biggest wheat producer after China. Thanks in part to a bumper harvest last year they had been able to fill the gap in markets left by decreased output from Ukraine, even as bad weather reduced the crops of the other big grain exporters.

今年迄今为止,小麦期货价格已经上涨了60%(5月份数据),在一场热浪袭击了印度的农作物产区后,该国上周宣布立即禁止小麦出口。印度政府表示,价格飙升正在威胁印度和其他脆弱国家的粮食安全。印度是仅次于中国的世界第二大小麦生产国。部分归功于去年的丰收,此前印度曾成功填补了今年乌克兰减产留下的市场空白,即使其他粮食出口大国早前已因为恶劣的天气而减产。



2019年以来的主要农产品价格走势(上排依次为:小麦、玉米、大麦;下排:葵花籽油、棕榈油、菜籽油)

In the global food system, supply-demand problems were previously mostly down to weather and other supply-related factors. In the last few years, the golbal pandemic tested, and in many ways proved, the resilience of the global food supply system. But now, with the war in Ukraine, we are seeing severe problems in the global food supply chain and it's difficult to predict the medium- or long-term implications. These new issues are occurring on top of an already tight - but at least functional - food supply chain. Before the war in Ukraine, food prices had already risen 18% over the pandemic.

在全球粮食系统中,供需问题以前主要归因于天气和其他与供应相关的因素。过去几年里,全球大流行测试并在许多方面证明了全球粮食供应系统的弹性。但现在,随着乌克兰战争,我们看到全球食品供应链出现严重问题,很难预测中长期影响。这些新问题发生在已经紧张但至少功能正常的食品供应链之上。在乌克兰战争之前,食品价格已经在大流行期间上涨了18%。

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Right now, we don't know how long the conflict will last in Ukraine, but between 19 million and 34 million tons of export production could disappear this year. Next year, depending on the situation in Ukraine, the figure could be between ten million and 43 million tons. That translates into the necessary caloric intake for 60 million to 150 million people. Apart from the obvious issues of people going hungry, a reduction in food supply means that prices can be expected to rise, and these higher prices will affect an even broader range of the world's population, well beyond 150 million people. The World Bank has warned that for each percentage point increase in food prices, 10mn additional people are thrown into extreme poverty worldwide.

目前我们无法预测乌克兰冲突将持续多久,但今年可能会有1900万吨到3400万吨的粮食出口就此消失。明年,视乌克兰的情况,这个数字可能在1千万吨到4300万吨之间。这就相当于6千万到1.5亿人一年所需的热量摄入。除了造成饥饿这个显而易见的问题外,粮食供应的减少还意味着食品价格的上涨,而更高的食品价格将影响到世界上更广泛的人口,远远超过1.5亿人。世界银行警告说,食品价格每上涨一个百分点,全球就会有1千万人陷入极端贫困。


Reduced grain exports from Ukraine will hit particularly hard in Africa and the Middle East, where much of the country's wheat goes. Ukraine accounts for 80 percent of Lebanon's wheat imports and is a leading supplier for countries including Somalia, Syria, and Libya. Egypt imports almost two-thirds of the wheat in consumes, making it the world's largest wheat importer. More than 80 percent of the wheat Egypt imports comes from Russia and Ukraine. So, the impact of the war in Ukraine will be felt across many nations. Poor countries, which are already facing widespread hunger, will feel the pain the most.

乌克兰粮食出口减少,将对非洲和中东造成尤为严重的影响,这些地区的国家是乌克兰小麦的主要出口对象。乌克兰提供了黎巴嫩小麦进口量的80%,同时也是索马里、叙利亚和利比亚等国的主要供应国。埃及进口本国消费的小麦的近三分之二,这使其成为世界最大小麦进口国,而埃及80%以上的小麦进口来自俄罗斯和乌克兰。因此,许多国家将感受到乌克兰战争的影响。其中已经面临大面积饥饿的贫穷国家将受到最大冲击。