Analysis: How the invasion of Ukraine will hit global food security

While the fallout of the Russian assault on Ukraine is being felt in the energy markets, conflict in a region that supplies over a third of the world’s wheat could have serious consequences for the global food supply system

Wheat harvesting in Ukraine: Russian forces have bombed the Ukrainian port infrastructure and European wheat prices have hit record highs in recent days on the back of intensifying fears of a global supply shortage in staple grains. Picture: Getty

The Dublin office of Stone X, an international trading and brokerage firm that specialises in agricultural commodities, resembled a scene from Wall Street, the 1980s movie, last week.

Phones were constantly ringing as nervous clients called their brokers to lock in prices for key food commodities such as wheat, maize and oilseeds. They were moving urgently because the Russian invasion of Ukraine had sent shockwaves through financial and commodity markets over the last two weeks ...