By Nidal Al-Mughrabi

GAZA (Reuters – After three months of the Russian invasion, Ukraine’s access to cheaper Black Sea wheat has been cut off to Ukraine. Five mill owners in Gaza Strip feel the heat and are trying to replenish stock.

Prices rose by about 20%. The territory’s five major mills have struggled to keep up with the imports from Egypt and West Bank which are more affordable than Gaza.

Abdel-Dayem Abu Awwad was the director general of Gaza’s AL-Salam Mills Company. According to him, they were forced by the crisis to reduce their workforce and cut down on working hours.

He said that the capacity was 400 tonnes per day for wheat and 300 tonnes for flour. “Now, the number is 10-20%.” He spoke to Reuters from southern Gaza where the majority of machines had been switched off.

One 50-kg bag (110 pounds) of flour from one’s mills will cost 120 shekels ($35.91). Flour imported from Egypt and the West Bank, on the other hand, is about 10 shekels more. A sack of flour used to cost 97 shekels before the conflict in Ukraine.

The main cause is the Russian-Ukraine conflict. “We had stocks for about two-three weeks, but once they ran out, we were forced to buy wheat at new price, which was quite high,” he said to Reuters.

Nearly a third global wheat supply is held by Ukraine and Russia. Delivery disruptions due to the conflict have caused prices around the globe to rise.

This crisis coincides with Gaza’s wheat harvest. However, the crop is barely enough to meet the demand of Gaza, which has a population of 2.3 million and uses up to 500 tonnes per day.

Amani Ayyad, mother of six, from Mughraqa in central Gaza Strip stated that the recent flour price increase was making her feel sick.

“Prices for cooking oil, flour, and sugar went up. While we tolerated the blocking and division, what can people do when they don’t have food? “This is a slow end,” Ayyad said to Reuters in her two-room home.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency UNRWA provides aid to Gazans, with two-thirds dependent upon it. This includes food distributions for refugee families every quarter. It has so far maintained delivery but requested additional funding from donors to offset rising prices.

Samir Al Adham, 44 years old, said that UNRWA’s aid should stop or be delayed. He spoke at a Food Distribution Centre in Beach Refugee Camp.

($1 = 3.3420 shekels)