LONDON (Reuters) – Associated British Foods has minimal direct exposure to Ukraine and Russia, though the group could be impacted if the conflict drives up the global price of wheat, its finance chief said on Monday.
“In terms of direct trading with Ukraine, it’s not that material to the group,” John Bason told Reuters after the group updated on trading.
But he noted that AB Foods’ grocery businesses, which include Allied Bakeries, use a lot of wheat, mostly from the United Kingdom.
“Ukraine is a big producer of wheat so the world wheat price will react if there are any supply shortages,” said Bason.
“It’s those secondary effects of volatility in the commodity markets, that’s where I think we will likely see some effects.”
He said it was too early to say what the scale of any impact would be.
(Reporting by James Davey; editing by William James)
