ISTANBUL (AP) – Istanbul’s Tarihi Balikca restaurant has been trying for months to capture the growing amount of sunflower oil, used by cooks to burn fish, squid and mussels.
But in early April, the price of oil was nearly four times higher than in 2019, the restaurant finally claimed to have raised its prices. Now, even some longtime users are flipping the menu and walking away.
“We fought. We say, let’s wait a bit, maybe the market will improve, maybe (price) will stabilize. “But we saw no improvement,” said Mahsun Aktash, a waiter and cook at a restaurant. “Customers can’t afford it.”
Since then, oil prices have risen around the world The COVID-19 pandemic It started for many reasons, from low yields in South America to virus-related labor shortages and ever-growing demand from the biofuel industry. . The war in Ukraine – which provides nearly half of the world’s sunflower oil, except 25 percent, from Russia – has cut supplies and pushed up oil prices.
According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, vegetable oil prices hit a record high in February and then jumped another 23% in March. According to the World Bank, soybean oil, which sold at $ 765 per ton in 2019, averaged $ 1,957 per ton in March. The price of palm oil has risen by 200% and will rise further after Indonesia, one of the leading producers in the world. Ban oil exports from Thursday To protect domestic supply.
Some supermarkets in Turkey have imposed restrictions on the amount of vegetable oil families can buy after concerns over shortages led to panic buying. Some stores also have restrictions in Spain, Italy and the UK. German shoppers are posting pictures on social media with empty shelves where sunflower and canola oil are commonly found. In a recent tweet, Kenya’s leading electricity company warned that thieves were cleaning toxic liquids from electrical transformers and selling them as grease.
“Now we just have to cook everything, the pan days are over,” said Glaudina Nyony, who checked prices at a supermarket in Harare, Zimbabwe, where the price of vegetable oil has nearly doubled since the war. A 2-liter bottle now costs up to $ 9.
Emivati, who runs a food stall in Jakarta, Indonesia, said it needs 24 liters of oil per day. Make Nassi Capau, a traditional rice mixture that you will eat along with dishes like spicy roast beef. It has struggled to secure this supply since January, and what it buys is more expensive. Revenue is declining, but he fears losing customers if prices rise.
“I’m sorry,” Emivati said, using only one name. “We agree that the price of oil is rising, but we cannot increase the products we sell.
High The cost of cooking oil is slightly behind the recent protests in Jakarta. Indonesia has set a price limit for palm oil at home and banned exports, which will cause new fires around the world. Palm oil has been found as an alternative to sunflower oil and is used in many products, from cakes to cosmetics.
Around the world in London, Yawar Khan, owner of Akash Tandoori restaurant, said that a 20-liter lard cost him 22 22 ($ 28) a few months ago; Now I am 38 38 ($ 49).
“We can’t pass on all the prices (increases) to customers, which can lead to disaster,” said Khan, who is also struggling with rising costs for meat and spices. ENERGY AND WORK.
Large companies are also suffering. London -based Unilever, which makes Dove soap and Hellmann mayonnaise, said it has contracts for critical ingredients such as palm oil for the first half of the year. But he warned investors that his costs could rise significantly in the second half.
Cargill, a global food giant that makes vegetable oils, said its users are changing formulas and experimenting with different types of oils at a faster pace than usual. This can be dangerous because oils have different properties; For example, olive oil burns at a lower temperature than sunflower oil, while palm oil is more viscous.
Prices could drop this fall as farmers harvest corn, soybeans and other crops in the Northern Hemisphere, said Joseph Glauber, a researcher at the International Food Policy Research Institute. But there is always a risk of bad weather. Last year, drought hit Canada’s rapeseed crop and Brazilian soybean crop, while heavy rains affected palm oil production in Malaysia.
Farmers may be reluctant to plant enough crops to fill shortages in Ukraine or Russia because they don’t know when the war will end, says Steve Matthews, co-director of research at Gro Intelligence, an agricultural analytics and company data.
“If there was a ceasefire or something, we would see prices drop in the short term,” he said.
In the long run, the crisis could prompt countries to reconsider mandates on biofuels, which dictate the amount of vegetable oils to be mixed into fuels. Reduce energy emissions and imports. In the United States, for example, 42% of soybean oil goes to biofuels, Glauber said. Indonesia recently postponed a plan to request 40% palm oil -based biodiesel, while the European Commission said it would support member states that choose to reduce their biofuel mandates.
Meanwhile, consumers and businesses are in trouble.
Harry Niaz, owner of The Famous Olley’s Fish Experience in London, said he paid about ფ 22 ($ 29) for a 20-liter jar of sunflower oil; The cost recently jumped to 42.50 ($ 55). Niazi operates eight piers a week.
But what worries him more about rising prices is the thought of running out of sunflower oil altogether. He plans to sell his truck and use the money to store oil.
“It’s very, very scary and I don’t know how to manage the fish and chips industry. “Not really,” he said.
So far Niazi has stopped raising prices because he doesn’t want to lose customers.
Jordan’s Grab n ’Go, a small restaurant in Dyersburg, Tennessee known for its fried cheeseburgers, owner Christine Coronado is also concerned about the price increase. But due to a 20% increase in total cost – and the price of cooking oil has nearly tripled since it opened in 2018 – it finally raised its prices in April.
“You don’t want to raise prices for people, but the costs are just higher than they were a few years ago,” he said.
Chan reported from London. AP journalists Edna Tarigan and Fadlan Siam in Jakarta, Indonesia; Farai Mutsaka of Harare, Zimbabwe; Susan Fraser of Ankara, Turkey; Mehmed Guzel of Istanbul; Anne D’Innocenzio of New York; And Dahilatso Mosamo and Mogomots Magome contributed to Johannesburg.
Source: Huffpost
