February 27: Russian invasion of Ukraine has caused obstruction in the supply of raw materials required for producing cooking oil and poultry feed to Nepal.

Nepali importers say that the consignments of unrefined sunflower and soybean oil from Ukraine have been cancelled due to the outbreak of the war.

Nikhil Chachan, operator of Narayani Oil, says that the supply of raw materials had been delayed during the build-up to the war and the consignments have completely stopped with the onset of war.

More than a dozen industries that manufacture cooking oil in Nepal are dependent on Ukraine for raw materials. The shipments of raw materials have been stuck at the ports after Russia launched an attack on Ukraine last Thursday.

Operator of OCB Foods, Suresh Rungata, says that the shipping companies have started cancelling the orders citing extraordinary situation.

“The ships that were ready to sail with the raw materials have been stuck at the ports following the Russian invasion,” said Rungata, adding, “It is not certain when things will return back to normalcy.”

Nepal imports more than 80 percent of unprocessed product required for producing oil from Ukraine.

Industrialist Chachan says that the quality of mustard produced in Ukraine are better than anywhere else and therefore it falls in their first choice category.

Meanwhile, Rungata says that all the industries keep a stock of 10 to 15 percent of raw materials and therefore the market will not face immediate shortage of cooking oil.

“The industries have stock enough for 1 or 2 days. The shipment at Kolkata port will be enough for another 10/12 days. There might be some problem is supply after that,” says Rungata.

Another industrialist Om Prakash More says that if the Russia-Ukraine war gets prolonged, there will be a major problem in supply of cooking oil, wheat, maize, petroleum products among others. He further said that inflation is imminent due to the short-supply.

Other businessmen say that that even if the war ends it will take some time for Ukraine to recover from its impact and the supply chain will not improve anytime soon.