Ukraine has faced the worst buckwheat shortage as it has cut its trade with Russia, Report informs, citing 1+1.
Ukraine previously received 50% of buckwheat from Russia and cultivated the rest on its own.
"Today, as Russia is actually closed for buckwheat supplies, we have begun to feel a large shortage in our market, both seed and ordinary buckwheat. And this will lead to a sharp rise in prices," said Sergei Gromovoi, director of the International Buckwheat Association.
At the same time, he noted that Ukrainian farmers are increasingly refusing to sow the land with buckwheat, choosing more profitable crops.
Gromovoy predicts an increase in the minimum cost of a kilogram of buckwheat to 90 hryvnias ($3.04). Now in Ukrainian supermarkets, you can't buy buckwheat cheaper than 70 hryvnias ($2.37) per kilogram, and the maximum price for first-class buckwheat reaches 125 hryvnias ($4.23) per kilogram.