Tema, Dr Emmanuel Kofi Mbiah, a former Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Shippers Authority (GSA), says the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict is going to have a significant negative impact on trade activities globally if prolonged.
He said it was not only going to severely affect oil and gas supplies but also food supplies because the two countries account for a huge chunk of the world’s grain production.
He told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) that the consequences of the war on shipping were already being felt.
“The little we are seeing in the stifling of global supply chains is only the beginning, look at the price of oil, for example, all of a sudden, we have gone to US$139 a barrel.”
Dr. Mbiah noted that the impact was significant, as the crude oil price hike, had affected almost every sphere of life.
The conflict was not only affecting the European countries, African nations were not be spared, he said, adding that just as countries across the world were coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic, and trying to get the supply chains to work again, the war started.
“You would think you are far away so the impact is not on you, but you would realize the imports, especially, processed foods are going to be expensive, fuel prices have gone up, bunkers have increased prices, and freight rates will go through the roof.”
Russia and Ukraine between them supply 30 percent of the world’s wheat requirement. Ukraine is also the world’s fourth-largest exporter of corn and about the fifth largest exporter of wheat.
He said currently, the Black Sea-Azov area had become an unsafe route, trapping 140 merchant ships, while some commercial vessels had suffered collateral damage from missile strikes.
Source: Ghana News Agency
