ABIDJAN: Djeneba Belem’s Abidjan fried bean cake stall is a world apart from the Ukraine conflict. However, her firm is now being harmed by an unanticipated consequence: skyrocketing palm oil prices.
“I DIDN’T WANT TO SELL ANYMORE BECAUSE I THOUGHT, WHAT AM I GOING TO EARN IF THE PRICE OF OIL HAD GONE UP THAT MUCH?” AT HER STREET-SIDE STALL IN IVORY COAST’S LAGOON-SIDE COMMERCIAL CAPITAL, SHE SAID AS SHE STIRRED A BATCH OF CAKES.
Although neither Russia nor Ukraine grow palm oil, a tropical product, Moscow’s invasion has had repercussions throughout today’s complex global economy.
The violence has pushed prices for palm oil, which is used in everything from Nigerian jollof rice to Ivorian sticky alloco plantains, to new highs, which experts believe would exacerbate the continent’s food crisis and harm the poorest.
The instability prompted Indonesia, the world’s largest supplier of palm oil, to halt some exports in recent days in order to keep domestic prices under control. The restriction could be widened, according to a senior government official.
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“This is the first time we’ve truly put this issue to the test,” said James Fry, founder of agricultural commodities consultant LMC International. “It will probably certainly be the poorest in large countries or African countries who would take the brunt.”
Indeed, food costs account for 40% of household spending in Sub-Saharan Africa, the highest proportion of any region in the world and more than double the 17 percent spent on food in advanced economies.
And, with prices rising quickly across the board, including fuel, and tens of millions of Africans already living in extreme poverty as a result of the pandemic, rising palm oil prices will compel many to make difficult decisions.
Lucy Kamanja, a beauty industry consultant in Nairobi, Kenya, said she’s had to cut back on fruit and other home staples due to a 90 percent increase in palm-based cooking oil.
“I’m quite concerned. “I’m not sure where we’re going because food prices have nearly doubled,” she explained. “The common man… I’m not sure.
