IBPS RRB Office Assistant Mains 24 Sep 2022 Paper

Question Numbers: 121-130
Read the following passage and answer the questions given below. Some words may be highlighted. Pay attention.
After the pandemic caused shortages of essential items, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has disrupted important food supplies, driving up prices of staples like cooking oil in supermarkets around the world.  Before the war, Ukraine was the world’s largest exporter of sunflower oil. The conflict has now paralyzed harvests and left many nations with limited stocks of edible oil and soaring prices for what’s left. The United Nations has also warned that Russia's invasion of Ukraine could soon cause a global food crisis that may last for years.
Edible oil prices had gone up in the following months after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a “Special military operation” in Ukraine. However, after five months, in continuation to the global price reduction and the government’s effort to pass on the benefits of reduced edible oil prices to consumers has given temporary relief to the common man.
Ukraine and Russia have been the major suppliers of sunflower oil. Between November 2020 and October 2021, India imported a total of 18.93 lakh tonnes of crude sunflower oil; of this Ukraine exported 13.97 lakh tonnes and Russia exported 2.22 lakh tonnes of sunflower oil to India. With the ongoing Russia-Ukraine crisis, the demand and supply chain of sunflower oil has been impacted. As a result, edible oil companies are now looking at options to import edible oil from other countries. They have also put forward the proposal of the usage of other cooking oils such as palm oil and groundnut oil so that the retail prices do not increase.
Weather woes across the world's major producers of edible oils are adding to fears of shortages. Dryness has foreshortened the size of soybean harvests in South America, the world's biggest producer, and drought in Canada shrank production of canola, leaving little available supply.
While limited supply and soaring prices are set to worsen inflation of food items like salad dressing and mayonnaise in wealthy economies like the U.S., developing nations like India are set to feel the worst impacts. Such countries depend on imports of palm oil as a cheaper alternative to more costly soybean, sunflower and canola oil.