Depleted food stocks caused by the dwindling exports of grain and other food commodities from Ukraine and Russia could leave between 11 million and 19 million more people suffering from chronic hunger over the next year, the United Nations' food agency said on June 10.
Moscow's war in Ukraine has sent prices surging for grains, cooking oils, fuel, and fertilizer. Russia and Ukraine account for nearly one-third of global wheat supplies.
Russia is also a leading exporter of fertilizer while Ukraine is a major supplier of corn and sunflower oil.
The impact of the war "could lead to anywhere between 11 to 19 million more hungry people -- that's chronic hunger for 2022/23," said Boubaker Ben Belhassen of the Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO) on June 10.
The preliminary estimate was based on reduced exports of food commodities from Ukraine and Russia, Ben Belhassen told reporters.
"The countries that are being affected most are in the Near East/North African region given their heavy reliance on imports -- especially of wheat -- from these countries, but also of vegetable oil, sunflower oil," he said.
Some countries in sub-Saharan Africa and in Asia, such as Bangladesh and Indonesia, were also being "highly impacted," he added.