*The world鈥檚 supply of cooking oil, reportedly squeezed by the Russian-Ukraine war, is getting smaller due to weather woes across the world鈥檚 major producers of edible oils

Isola Moses | 绿帽献妻

Indonesia is set to ban exports of cooking oil in the wake of a local shortage and soaring prices, bare few months after Russia鈥檚 invasion of Ukraine upended global agricultural trade and in view of a raft of crop protectionism around the world

绿帽献妻 learnt the country accounts for more than a third of global vegetable-oil exports, with China and India, the two most populous countries, among its top buyers.

Oil palm plantation in Africa

Carlos Mera, Head of Agricultural Commodity Markets Research at Rabobank said that Indonesia鈥檚 supply of edible oil to the world is 鈥渋mpossible to replace,鈥� adding, 鈥渋t鈥檚 definitely a big blow.鈥�

Indonesia is the biggest producer of palm oil, the world鈥檚 most consumed edible oil.

The southeast Asian country鈥檚 announcement of the ban Friday, April 22, 2022, sent the United States (US) futures tied to soybean oil, an alternative to palm, soaring to the highest price on record for a third straight day, reports Bloomberg.

In the United Kingdom (UK), some supermarkets are limiting purchases of cooking oils, like sunflower, olive and rapeseed.

Russia鈥檚 invasion of Ukraine has thrown the trade of sunflower oil into chaos and is squeezing already tight supplies of other vegetable oils used in food, biofuels and personal care products.

Weather woes across the world鈥檚 major producers of edible oils are adding to fears of shortages.

Dryness has crimped the size of soybean harvests in South America, the world鈥檚 biggest producer, and drought in Canada shrank production of canola, leaving little available supply, report stated.

Report also indicates as limited supply and soaring prices are set to worsen inflation of food items like salad dressing and mayonnaise in wealthy economies like the US, developing nations like India are set to feel the worst impacts.

Such countries depend on imports of palm oil as a cheaper alternative to more costly soybean, sunflower and canola oil.

Atul Chaturvedi, President of Solvent Extractors鈥� Association of India, and edible oil trade group, said: 鈥淲e are terribly shocked by this decision of Indonesia.

鈥淲e were not expecting a ban like this.鈥�

The surge in core food costs is also leading to the biggest debate in a decade over using farmland to grow crops for producing fuel, report also said.

The American Bakers Association, whose members produce 85 percent of US-baked goods, is warning about empty grocery store shelves.

鈥淲e desperately need the US Environmental Protection Agency to take the right action to allow soybean oil stocks to shift back into food instead of being diverted to biodiesel production,鈥� said Robb MacKie, the trade group鈥檚 President.

Food-versus-fuel tensions are also flaring in other regions, including Indonesia, according to report.

The latest action by Indonesia is certain to 鈥渁ggravate鈥� food inflation that鈥檚 already at a record high, said Tosin Jack, commodity intelligence manager at Mintec in the UK Tight vegetable oil supplies are already prompting food manufacturers to improvise with their products, including trying to come up with new formulations and switch to substitutes when possible, said Jack.

For makers of packaged items like chips 鈥� whose ingredient lists often allow flexibility by stating the food can contain multiple vegetable oils 鈥� the move by Indonesia takes one more oil off an ever-shrinking list.

Changing food recipes though can be daunting and 鈥渄oes not necessarily produce a product with the same sensory characteristics,鈥� said Jeannie Milewski, Executive Director for The Association for Dressings & Sauces, an Atlanta-based trade group that represents makers of products that most often rely on soybean oil.

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