28 Feb 2022: African billionaire Naguib Sawiris requested the Egyptian government to hoard on to extra quantities of wheat considering the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine.

According to his tweet Russia and Ukraine contribute to 30 per cent of global wheat output and that the recent chaos will cause the commodity’s price to snowball as Europe experiences its most dangerous moment since the Cold War.

“We must hurry to buy and store wheat before the Ukraine-Russia war, they produce 30-per cent of the world’s wheat production, and if a war breaks out, all of this will not be available, and the prices will be high,” Sawiris stated in the tweet.

The European price of wheat has since hit a 10-year high following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. According to reports, wheat prices have risen by 5.6% to $935 a bushel, exceeding previous highs seen in November 2021.

Prior to the conflict, wheat prices were already at elevated levels. Last year alone prices towered to 30% and, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, “uncertainty over exportable supplies” could cause further price inflation.