Sunflower oil scarce: TV broadcaster sees blame on Muslims - viewers beside themselves

Created: 05/05/2022, 04:58

By: Stella Henrich

A French TV station initially explains the shortage of sunflower oil in the food markets with the fasting month of Ramadan.

And reaped ironic comments from his viewers.

Munich - Sunflower oil is popular.

Consumers in this country can now sing a song about it.

Either they stand in front of empty shelves in the markets, or they have to pay significantly more for a bottle of cooking oil.

The situation in neighboring France is also very similar, cooking oil is becoming scarce, as the television station BFMTV now reports in a report.

The broadcaster cites the fasting month of Ramadan as one reason for this.

Because "in the religious tradition, this oil is very often used for donuts when breaking the fast and is said to empty the supermarket shelves."

The fact that the broadcaster's contribution to the explanation of the lack of cooking oil with the mention of the month of fasting clearly exaggerates makes its viewers crazy.

“Okay, so nobody does Ramadan in Morocco?

No little donuts to break the fast?” is the irony of one netizen, followed by a video of full shelves of sunflower oil in Morocco, where Ramadan is also celebrated.

Sunflower Oil: The Real Reason for the Deficiency

But what is the real problem?

The shortage is associated with the Ukraine war and slowed or even non-existent production.

The media has been reporting on this since the beginning of the war.

The supply chains for sunflower oil came to a standstill when the war broke out.

In the supermarkets, customers often find themselves in front of half-empty shelves.

(symbol image) © Imago

Manufacturers are forced to replace the composition of many ready meals containing sunflower oil with other ingredients.

The French state has just allowed makers of potato chips and biscuits to allow rapeseed oil or even palm oil without changing their packaging.

There are other alternatives that can be used as a substitute.

Sunflower oil: logistics problems and a lack of truck drivers from Ukraine

"There is no problem with rapeseed," says a spokesman for the Association of Oil State Processing Industries (Ovid).

Because in Germany, France or Poland, rapeseed is grown on almost a million hectares each.

According to the association, the fact that rapeseed oil is currently not available or only available with difficulty in many supermarkets is due to hamster purchases and logistics problems.

For example, there are no truck drivers from the Ukraine, many of whom have previously worked for Polish haulage companies.

Ukraine is the largest exporter of sunflower oil, accounting for 50 percent of world exports.

The prevailing war makes trade between the countries more difficult and leads to this shortage and high prices.

But products such as meat, beer and coffee have also become significantly more expensive in retail.