ROME: According to the UN's Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), Russia's ongoing war in Ukraine has a significant impact on global food markets, putting an additional 11 to 19 million people at risk of chronic hunger.

FAO spokeswoman Boubaker Ben Belhassen told reporters that the two warring states are key producers of agricultural commodities in the world, with a combined share of about  30% of global wheat exports. The North African countries are the hardest hit by the crisis.

The spokeswoman highlighted the FAO's latest food outlook report, which predicted that agricultural commodity markets will tighten in 2022 due to "soaring input prices, weather worries, and heightened market uncertainty."

Higher international food prices, according to Belhassen, are expected to push global food import bills to a new high of USD1.8 trillion in 2022. "Greater import bills reflected higher unit costs rather than higher volumes," he said adding that "Many countries, particularly the economically fragile ones, are expected to confront higher bills while importing fewer amounts."

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