Russia and Ukraine are major breadbaskets, accounting for 30% of wheat, 17% of corn, and over half of sunflower seed oil exports worldwide. The war between the two neighbors has led to sharply rising prices for basic staples across the globe. In Iraq, protests have broken out over soaring food costs that government officials have attributed to the conflict in eastern Europe.

Iraq imports nearly 50% of its food supply and suffers from endemic food insecurity, owing to its struggling agricultural sector. In 2020, Ukraine exported 597M USD worth of goods to the country, of which seed oils accounted for 324M USD...