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BERLIN (LifeSiteNews) — Shelves in major German supermarket chains such as Lidl, Aldi, and Edeka are getting emptier, and many products have become more expensive as the war in Ukraine is affecting supply chains throughout Europe.

One product in particular has now become a scarce commodity in Germany: According to German newspaper Lebensmittel Zeitung (LZ), cooking oil is now in short supply throughout the country.

LZ cited a number of reasons for this, among which are COVID and bad harvests, but the war in Ukraine appears to have only exacerbated the problem, as the war-torn Eastern European nation was once one of the most important exporters of rapeseed and sunflower to Germany.

This is why rapeseed and sunflower oil in particular have become scarce on German supermarket shelves.

As a result, cooking oil has become significantly more expensive lately, with prices rising to €1.80 a bottle from under €1.00 in the past year.

In response to the shortage, Aldi Süd decided to impose a limit of four bottles of cooking oil per customer, according to LZ.

This comes about two years after the outbreak of COVID-19, with its subsequent government lockdowns and border restrictions, caused a major supply crisis throughout Europe, with goods such as toilet paper, bread, flour, and eggs disappearing from the shelves.

In addition to rapeseed and sunflower, Ukraine also exports wheat, soy, and mustard to the rest of Europe, which could also affect supply chains for these goods.

In some parts of the war-torn nation, production of these goods has been halted altogether.

Prices on goods such as pasta, rice, breakfast cereals, jam, chocolate and mustard are therefore also expected to rise as a result of the ongoing conflict.

Meanwhile, gas prices, which had already started to rise before the Ukrainian war, have now skyrocketed in Europe and elsewhere.

In the U.S., the nationwide average for regular gas is now $4.33 a gallon, compared to $2.826 a year ago, according to AAA.

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