Spanish supermarkets ration sunflower oil due to the war in Ukraine

Several Spanish supermarkets have begun rationing the sale of sunflower oil to prevent consumers from rushing for large stocks fearing the war in Ukraine will wipe out supplies.

“Due to the situation of force majeure in Ukraine, sunflower oil supply problems are occurring. For this reason, the purchase of this product is limited to three units of one liter or one unit of five liters per customer per day.”, was read on the posters that hung from the shelves of several supermarkets of the El Corte Inglés company in Madrid.

For its part, the Mercadona supermarket chain, the most important in Spain, limited the purchase of sunflower oil to five liters per customer on its website.

The introduction of these restrictions is due “to atypical consumer behaviorwhich has precipitated into the sunflower oil creating a “abnormal demand”, explained the Spanish Association of distributors, self-service stores and supermarkets (Asedas) in a statement.

Some consumers intend to anticipate a possible shortage of the product, since Ukraine supplies half of the world trade in sunflower oil, which represents 14% of global operations of vegetable oils, according to analysts.

In the midst of the Russian invasion, the Ukrainian government on Sunday established a license to limit exports of some agricultural products, including sunflower oil.

For Primitivo Fernández, director of the National Association of Edible Oil Industries (Anierac), “At the moment there is no shortage problem.

Although, if the conflict spreads, “there are likely to be tensions to source oil from all over the Black Sea, not just Ukraine,” he added.

Famous for its extensive sunflower fields, Ukraine is the world’s leading producer of this oilseed and the world’s leading exporter of its oil.