Commodity dependency puts all countries at risk

By Sevgi Ceren Gokkoyun

ANKARA (AA) - As the world economy is struggling with global shocks such as climate change and pandemics, commodity dependency deepened by the Russia-Ukraine war accelerated the search for new alternatives.

According to data compiled by Anadolu Agency, natural resource-rich countries enjoy high export income, while commodity-dependent countries struggle with supply disruptions and price hikes led by global shocks.

Global commodity prices have been significantly pushed up by the negative impact of climate change and the fight against the coronavirus in the last two years turned into a deeper problem with the Russian war on Ukraine.

The sanctions against Russia, an important exporter of oil and gas besides some metals and agricultural products, bring up the dependence on the region for these products, however, the dependency problems of the importer countries go far beyond this.

The value of global commodity exports is nearing $4.4 trillion, plus war-related supply disruptions are triggering the rise in commodity prices.

As foreign dependency on energy is standing out as an important problem for countries without sufficient fossil fuel reserves, a solution is sought with alternatives such as renewable energy.

Having one-fifth of the world's gas reserves, Russia is the top supplier. Iran and Qatar are also important suppliers with 17.1% and 13.1% shares, respectively.

Meanwhile, Venezuela has the largest oil reserves with a share of 17.5%, followed by Saudi Arabia with 17.1%, and Canada with 9.7%.

The fact that oil and gas suppliers are limited to a few countries causes massive dependence on commodities around the world.