Amid wide-ranging sanctions imposed on Russia by the EU and also Albania, the last shipment of Russian wheat has arrived in the country on Tuesday (1 March).
Exit reported earlier this week that Albania could be facing bread products being removed from menus over the shortage, or significant price increases of flour.
Albania gets almost half of its flour from Russia and the remaining majority from other countries that get it from Russia. Current sanctions mean this supply chain will be interrupted and with zero government reserves, wholesalers are likely to run out in about two months.
The vessel that arrived in Durres today was carrying 3030 tonnes of grain, equivalent to 1% of what was imported in 2021.
Local harvests are not due until July and are nowhere near enough to satisfy local demand.
Wholesalers have said the country will likely not be left without, but the cost of flour and grain will rise significantly as importing from other sources will cost a lot more.
Prices of wheat on international stock exchanges already rose by 6.4% yesterday. Furthermore, question marks over the ability of Ukrainian and Russian farmers to plant for the next season and then to harvest it, have been raised.
https://exit.al/en/2022/02/27/bread-could-soon-be-off-the-menu-in-albania-amid-russia-ukraine-war/
