FILE PHOTO: Supermarket in Germany during the beginning of the contrived coronavirus crisis 21.3.2020.
Argentina's government announced on March 13 that it has halted registration of export sales of soy oil and soy meal, according to
Reuters report.
Argentina, the world's No. 1 exporter of the two soy byproducts, is forecast to account for 48% of soy oil and 41% of soy meal exports in marketing year 2021-22, according to the US Department of Agriculture's Foreign Agricultural Service.
With the country's harvesting season set to begin in a few weeks, Argentine processors expressed their displeasure with the government's decision.
"It is totally contrary to the export interest of Argentina," the Argentine Edible Oil Association (CIARA) said on twitter. "In addition to being illegal, it will affect the income of foreign currency and employment in the agro-industrial chain."
With Argentine soybeans off the market, importers will almost certainly look to the United States and Brazil, the world's two largest soybean producers, to fill the void.
Argentine soy oil and meal exports already face a 30% tariff and there have been rumors that the government plans to raise that rate even further.
Comment: RT Germany, the broadcaster that is currently blocked by many of the US social media giants,
reports:
Cooking oil and wheat flour: Empty shelves in German supermarkets
In some places it was already evident over the weekend: Sunflower oil and wheat flour are hard to come by. The oil is already completely sold out at the discounter Lidl, and Aldi Süd is rationing cooking oil to two liters per household. Cheap flour is becoming scarce at Edeka. Toilet paper is also increasingly being hoarded.
The effects of the war in Ukraine and the sanctions can already be observed in German supermarkets and discounters. Sunflower and rapeseed oil are becoming scarce at Aldi, Rewe, Edeka and other grocers, like that Focus reported.
In Berlin, the corresponding shelves at Edeka or Lidl were already emptied on Saturday. Aldi has already reacted and limited the amount of cooking oil sold per household.
A saleswoman said to a customer in the Aldi market in Fürstenfeldbruck, Bavaria:
"We don't get any more deliveries. (...) It's now rationed so that only two liters of oil can be sold per household."
There are several reasons for this: In addition to a poor harvest last year and supply chains destroyed by corona measures such as lockdowns, rising production costs for cooking oil are also responsible for the lower production volume.
Now comes the war in Ukraine. The country is the largest producer of sunflower oil in the world. Russia follows in second place. In addition, Russia is the world's largest exporter of wheat, with Ukraine in third place. German consumers can now also observe this in retail: Cheap wheat flour is hard to come by at the beginning of the week.
A similar shortage could follow for corn: Ukraine is the world's fourth largest exporter of the yellow vegetable. No new deliveries are currently coming from the Ukrainian ports - it is completely unclear when this will be the case again.
According to information from the company Ukr-AgroConsult, 500,000 tons of wheat and 1.7 million tons of corn are currently stored in the country. Sunflower oil, where Ukraine is the world's largest producer and exporter, is also threatened by further massive shortages and price increases.
Momme Matthiesen, Managing Director of the Association of the Oilseed Processing Industry (OVID), takes a similar view. In principle, security of supply in Germany is not in danger.
But there is also a rush for another product that is particularly popular in Germany: the current run on toilet paper is reminiscent of the first lockdown in the Corona crisis. On Monday, the shelves in some cities emptied clearly.
Evidence of the bare shelves and rationing have been appearing online:
See also:
And check out SOTT radio's:
NewsReal: Is The Government Hyping Shortages? And is 'Vaccination Shedding' Really a Thing?
Mealworms and cockroaches very high in protein I hear.