The war in Ukraine poses a “major threat to UK food security” and could lead to hyper inflation,” the boss of Britain’s biggest private food producer has warned.
Ronald Kers, chief executive of 2 Sisters Food Group, said a “food production clock is ticking” because of the conflict.
And forecast that food inflation could rocket to 15% by the middle of the year.
He highlighted what he called a “forgotten” unfolding agricultural crisis in Ukraine that could have “massive repercussions” for global commodity supply.
The war has already seen the price of wheat spiral to record high given fears about a hit to grain exports from Ukraine - dubbed the bread basket of Europe -and Russia.
Ukraine is also a big producer of other crops and sunflower oil.
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2 Sisters, a major chicken producer, said the price of animal feed had already soared.
Mr Kers said: “Before this war began, 4% to 5% food inflation was being forecast by mid-2022.
“But we now could see a hyper-inflationary environment at closer to 10% to 15% - more than it’s been for 50 years - if this conflict isn’t resolved quickly.”
He added: “This conflict brings a major threat to food security in the UK and there is no doubt the outcome of this is that consumers will suffer as a result.
“War disrupts the free flow of trade and the impacts for us are severe.
“For example, the input costs of producing chicken – with feed being the biggest component – have rocketed.”
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Mr Kers went on: “Our concern is that a lot of people haven’t realised the food production clock is ticking.
“Ukrainian farmers should be sowing crops in March, instead they’re fighting for their country.
“If this war is not stopped now, the UK could experience a major drop in supply of products like wheat, barley, corn, rapeseed, and sunflower oil.”
Mr Kers continued: “These pressures are piled on top of the acute inflationary environment we already have, and this is why we need cross-territorial collaboration food security strategies to bring some order amongst the chaos.”
Figures out this week showed supermarket prices are rising at the fastest rate for more than eight years.
Analysis by number crunchers NielsenIQ found average prices across the board are 2.7% higher than a year ago.
Clive Black, an analyst at broker Shore Capital, warned there was a looming food inflation “abyss”.
He added: “Where this all ends is genuinely worrying.”
