How the West can win Putin’s war on food

The West could easily make up the shortfall if it let the free market rip, says Matthew Lynn.

Vladimir Putin
Putin has weaponised our food supply
(Image credit: © SERGEI GUNEYEV/Sputnik/AFP via Getty Images)

Most of the West has already started to wean itself off Russian oil, and may soon be able to switch off the gas pipelines as well. But although we may be able to do without Russia’s energy, food is a different matter. It is becoming increasingly clear that Vladimir Putin is weaponising food supplies as part of his war on the West. Very soon there may be widespread shortages.

Both Russia and Ukraine were the world’s breadbaskets. Between them, the two countries supply 28% of globally traded wheat, 29% of barley, 15% of maize, and 75% of sunflower oil. Add it all up and it comes to 12% of all the calories traded around the world. That is now at real risk.

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Matthew Lynn

Matthew Lynn is a columnist for Bloomberg, and writes weekly commentary syndicated in papers such as the Daily Telegraph, Die Welt, the Sydney Morning Herald, the South China Morning Post and the Miami Herald. He is also an associate editor of Spectator Business, and a regular contributor to The Spectator. Before that, he worked for the business section of the Sunday Times for ten years. 

He has written books on finance and financial topics, including Bust: Greece, The Euro and The Sovereign Debt Crisis and The Long Depression: The Slump of 2008 to 2031. Matthew is also the author of the Death Force series of military thrillers and the founder of Lume Books, an independent publisher.