Food security - environmental meets social

At a time when we talk about driverless cars and virtual reality headsets, it's hard to believe that over 2 billion people face regular food security issues. Russia's invasion of Ukraine brought food security issues to our doorstep: agricultural food prices jumped 36.6% yoy in March after rising 28% in 2021 (World Bank). Ukraine is 12% of global grain exports. Ukraine and Russia produce 65% of sunflower oil exports and over 25% of wheat exports. Global cereals supply is already stretched. Food price shocks hit lower-income countries the hardest - this is already being reflected in sovereign spread widening in emerging markets according to a recent thematic note on Food security where environmental meets social in the ESG spectrum published by Bank of America Global Research Michael Avery is joined by lead author, Kay Hope, Research analyst specialising in ESG issues related to fixed income at Bank of America