Report: Ukraine War Prompts Wheat Noodle Shortage in Indonesia

The ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine, one of Indonesia’s biggest wheat suppliers, has caused a shortage of Indomie, a brand of wheat-based instant noodles popular in the Southeast Asian country, Al Jazeera reported Monday.

“People have been coming up to us and asking why there isn’t any Indomie left,” a grocery store staffer in Medan, Indonesia, named Muhammad Nasir told Al Jazeera for a report published on March 21.

“We still have stocks of some other brands, but Indomie is by far the most popular and we have not had any new deliveries in recent weeks,” he said.

Nasir said supermarkets throughout Medan city have received fewer shipments of Indomie than usual over the past week.

Evidence of a wheat noodle shortage in Indonesia remains anecdotal for now, Al Jazeera noted Monday.

Indonesia relies heavily upon Ukraine for most of its wheat supply, suggesting any continued conflict in the country (which has been at war with Russia since February 24) could further disrupt wheat-related shipments to Indonesia.

“Ukraine exported nearly 3 million tonnes of wheat and meslin – a cereal comprising a mixture of wheat and rye – to Indonesia in 2020, making it the top supplier of the grain to the country,” Al Jazeera reported on March 21 citing data from Indonesia’s National Statistics Bureau.

The combined wheat industries of Russia and Ukraine account for over 30 percent of global wheat trade, according to the European Union’s Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development. Russia was the top wheat exporter in the world in 2020 while Ukraine ranked fifth for wheat exports during the same year. Russia was additionally the third-largest producer of wheat globally in 2020.

Russia’s latest war with neighboring Ukraine threatens to disrupt wheat shipments to several nations that rely on Moscow and Kyiv for imported stocks of the cereal. In addition to Indonesia, these countries include Egypt, Turkey, Tunisia, Yemen, Lebanon, and Israel.

“Egypt relies on Russia and Ukraine for 85 percent of its wheat imports,” Monica Marks, a professor of Middle Eastern politics at New York University Abu Dhabi, told Al Jazeera on March 1.

“Though Turkey domestically produces about half of the wheat it consumes, it has become increasingly reliant on imports, 85 percent of which come from Russia and Ukraine,” the Qatari news outlet observed.

Egypt imported $3.02 billion worth of wheat in 2019. Of this amount, $1.44 billion worth originated in Russia. Ukraine imported $773.4 million worth of wheat to Egypt during the same year.