Private equity funds (hedge funds) profited significantly from the global spike in food prices that followed Russia's all-out invasion of Ukraine. The top 10 hedge funds in the world alone are valued at nearly $2 billion.. This is evidenced by an analysis of hedge fund earnings for the first quarter of last year, writes The Guardian..

It is clarified that the largest hedge funds have earned about $ 1.9 billion from trading two food commodities, namely grains and soybeans..

Various experts have reportedly raised the role of hedge funds and other speculators in inflating food prices..

Food companies also made crazy profits.. Greenpeace calculates that the world's 20 largest food companies have delivered $53.5 billion to shareholders over the past two years, with the windfall resulting from rising food prices during the Covid-19 pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The EU is reviewing its rules on excessive speculation, but there are doubts about how much regulators are willing to intervene.

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Recall that the Polish government decided to temporarily ban the import of grain and dozens of other food products from Ukraine.. The Hungarian government decided to support the decision of Poland, also banning the import of grain and some other agricultural products into its state.

Restrictions, as in Poland, are temporary and will be valid until June 30, 2023. Measures were introduced to protect their own farmers from cheap Ukrainian grain.

Despite the global rise in wheat prices and food risks for a number of countries, half of Ukrainian grain, which is so hard to export from the country, is exported at an incredible 40% discount.. Why it happened, Yulia Samaeva explains in the article “How did it happen that we have the cheapest wheat in the world”.