Why are UK supermarkets rationing cooking oil?

theguardian.com:

The latest supermarket data from Kantar shows shoppers have been stockpiling cooking oil due to concerns about the shortage of sunflower oil caused by the Russia-Ukraine war.

Here we look at what’s behind the shortages, what the situation means for consumers and how long it might last.

In a manner reminiscent of the controls put in place on popular items such as flour, eggs and toilet roll, during the pandemic a number of supermarkets, including Tesco, Morrisons and Waitrose, have restricted the number of bottles shoppers can buy to ensure there is enough to go round.

In its monthly review of supermarket sales trends Fraser McKevitt, Kantar’s head of retail and consumer insight, explains why purchase limits might have been required. In the four weeks to 17 April (before restrictions were in place) sales of all cooking oils were up by nearly a fifth as consumers “stocked up”.

Cooking oil sales were up 17%, McKevitt explained, due to a combination of “rising prices and increased demand”. Within that demand for sunflower and vegetable oil was the greatest, up 27% and 40%, respectively.

Taken together, Ukraine and Russia account for about 60% of world production of sunflower oil so the disruption to exports caused by the war has resulted in a major supply shock.

Millions of tonnes of sunflower oil earmarked for foreign buyers is trapped in Ukraine, triggering a scramble to source alternative vegetable oils of which there is not enough to go round.

The situation is acute in the UK as most of our sunflower oil comes from Ukraine. Prior to the crisis sunflower oil represented about a fifth of the cooking oil market by value in UK supermarkets and 44% by volume, according to data firm NielsenIQ.

A huge rush to secure substitute