Went to our normal supermarket this morning. Not a bottle of sunflower oil to be seen - the shelves completely clear. It is, I think, the UK’s most popular oil and we usually import massively from Ukraine.
The shortages are mainly due to Ukraine not being able to use its maritime export route but, probably, also due to some panic buying. Apart from the domestic customers, it will impact on various food businesses with newspapers today reporting a third of fish & chip shops may have to close.
A friend in Berlin told me that a lot of oil prices have gone up (as well as flour/wheat products).
I am hopeful that olive oils or nut oils aren’t affected.
I guess the real test will be when the fish & chip shops switch to an alternative oil to stay afloat. Will they then switch back to sunflower oil when the maritime routes reopen or will that market shrink/disappear for the long-term?
So far, not. Nor my favourite cold pressed “extra virgin” rapeseed oil (which is a British product). But I presume that customers will move to them, so put pressure on supply.
You got me interested in the US sunflower seed and oil industry.
I’m going to investigate.
News today of the first confirmed British fatality in the fighting.
A brave man. RIP.
