War in Ukraine: flour and oil rationed in supermarkets around the world
Consumers are frightened and empty the shelves to get supplies: this is how problems in supplying, rationing, and the first spending limits begin
The war in Ukraine scares consumers. The effects are felt in the rest of the world and in Europe in particular. Some supermarkets in Italy, for example, have already been stormed for the rush for supplies: the shelves of flour and oil are emptied, while supply problems begin, and both rationing and the first spending limits are triggered.
In several stores in Turin and therefore in Piedmont it is possible to buy a maximum of three liters of oil and only a few packs of flour, while in others you can put in the cart no more than 5 jars of vegetables in oil and pickled, of tomato preserves and of canned legumes.
Essential products such as pasta, water, sugar, eggs, and toilet paper are being sold out, as happened during the lockdown two years ago due to the Covid-19 emergency. The concerns concern all sectors and a large part of catering.
In La Spezia, Liguria, there are limits to the purchase of flour and seed oil:
“As we do not have large stocks, we cannot sell certain products” they explain in supermarkets.
The first half-empty shelves were also recorded in Ancona, in the Marche region. A sign at the entrance to a supermarket, attached to the main window, informs that “the maximum allowable purchase of seed oil per trolley is four one-liter bottles, or two two-liter or five-liter bottles, or one 10 liters “.
However, many customers who couldn’t cross the line sent wives, children, friends, and family to get around the problem.
This sort of psychosis is combined with the increase in the costs of fuel and energy, which has skyrocketed the prices of gasoline, diesel, and methane, pushing the haulers towards the strike:
“There was no certainty that the orders would arrive but they arrived everything so there is no danger of running out of oil ”explained the managers of a business.
Food rationing then arrived on the shelves of Lodi, Brescia, and Lombardy in general: flour and oil have limits on purchasing here too.
Thus the seed and sunflower oil Made in Ukraine has become a luxury item: the reserves are blocked on the ships docked at the Black Sea ports, waiting for the departure; they cannot set sail for war. Meanwhile, supermarkets are starting to have empty stores.
Seed oil is used for frying but also for biscuits and mayonnaise: with 60% of production and 75% of exports, Kyiv is the leading sunflower grower in the world and Italy depends on over 60 % of imports. Corn is also typical of the Ukrainian countryside.
