Ukraine's biggest food producer says the global food crisis could spell catastrophe and impact 'hundreds of millions of people'

It's a catastrophe. The world is going to end. The war in the country rages on and these are the words on the tip of John Rich's tongue.

The World Food Programme, the food-assistance branch of the United Nations, doesn't think that the situation could be apocalyptic, but it does think that the war could cause ahunger catastrophe. The conflict could lead to up to 323 million people becoming food-insecure in 2022, up from a prewar baseline of 276 million people.

Rich, MHP's executive chairman, told Insider that without a solution to the food crisis, hundreds of millions of people will be impacted.

The solution is obvious, but not easy to solve. Russia blocks Ukrainian ports along the Black Sea due to fighting. 12% and 17% of the global supply of wheat and corn can be provided by them.

Since the beginning of the conflict, global food security experts have called for the opening of the ports. He is worried that his company's production of key grains could be wasted.

The company is listed on the London Stock Exchange. Its workers have adjusted to the "new normal" of delivering food in a warzone with missiles overhead.

The chairman said that they wouldn't be exporting much out of Ukranian this year. It is very difficult and God knows how long it will take.

Rich said that 45 million tons of MHP's harvest could sit in storage this year, a harvest that normally feeds the Middle East, North Africa, Turkey, everybody.

Rich pointed out that certain crops oxidize faster than others, such as sunflowers, a crop that is among those stranded in Ukraine's seaports.

Rich said that the production of harvest hasn't been affected by the war. Most of the company's operations are located in the west and southwest of the country. All of MHP's inputs were purchased and stored in the year 2020.

A quarter of a million tons of wheat will be produced by MHP this summer. A lot of it could end up in storage because of difficulties in exporting it and lower consumption within Ukraine.

A senior Russian government official said on May 26 that the Kremlin would allow ships carrying food to leave Ukrainian ports in exchange for the lifting of sanctions. CNN reported that the suggestion was called clear blackmail by the Ukranian government.

It will be necessary to ship food out of Ukraine by rail because of the blocked ports. Changing railgauges between Ukraine and the EU pose a number of challenges according to Rich. He said that it will be slow because of customs processes.

Rich said that the food security of millions of people was already in danger before the war.

He said that the war broke the camel's back.