Tarweprijzen stijgen door zorgen over Rusland infographic
Graphic shows changes in the price of wheat since the invasion of Ukraine.
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Tarwe stijgt door bezorgdheid over Russische oogst

By Duncan Mil

September 28, 2022 - Wheat prices are climbing after recovering from ten-year highs following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Farmers are among military draftees as the winter wheat sowing season starts.

In the first months of the war, the possibility of a Russian naval blockade threatened to cause a global food crisis, driving prices as high as S12.94 a bushel. But after the Turkey-brokered grain deal on July 22, they dropped back to pre-war levels.

Over the past three weeks, prices have increased by 11.9 per cent, from S8.50 to $9.51 a bushel.

“The authorities have started to realise the seriousness of the situation,” Natalya Zubarevich, a specialist on the economy of Russian regions at Moscow State University, told Bloomberg. She said that most of the draftees are likely to come from rural areas, hitting the farm sector.

Moreover, on Tuesday (September 27, 2022), President Vladimir Putin admitted to officials that farmers are among the Russians drafted into the military.

Autumn is a busy season for farmers as they sow winter wheat for next year’s crop and harvest soybeans and sunflower seeds. Winter grain sowing has already been significantly delayed by rains this year.

Putin’s announcement of a partial mobilisation of the population on September 21 has triggered an exodus of eligible men for Russia’s borders with Finland, Georgia, Kazakhstan and Mongolia. On Monday, Novaya Gazeta Europe cited Kremlin sources, reporting that 261,000 men had left Russia in the past week.

The head of the Georgian interior ministry said that about 10,000 Russians were entering Georgia every day, almost double the number before the mobilisation announcement.

Sources
PUBLISHED: 28/09/2022; STORY: Graphic News; PICTURES: Getty Images
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