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This Ingredient Found in A Majority of Grocery Items Is Facing A Low Supply

Prices of alternatives recently shot up, too.

There are thousands of products in every grocery store, but look through the ingredients of many of them and you will find one in common: palm oil. It's used in everything from makeup to packaged snacks, but one of the regions that supply the rest of the world with a large amount has just cut off exports and that could spell trouble in a few months.

Large companies such as Nestle, Procter & Gamble, and Unilever use palm oil in their products and they get it from Indonesia more than half the time, Reuters reports. The country's president announced the move in mid-April, saying he wanted to make sure Indonesian citizens have access to food and household products as the global food supply dwindles and becomes more costly.

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Once the unexpected news was announced, other oil prices rose sharply. This is a trend experts say could continue should the Indonesian palm oil ban and the Russian invasion of Ukraine continue. The conflict is taking place in a region that supplies the world with wheat. Right now none is being shipped out of the "breadbasket of the world" as the area around the two countries is called. Combined with a limited supply of palm oil and big food companies very well could raise prices again.

Kraft Heinz and Mondelez have admitted to falling victim to inflation and upping the price of their products already this year. And unfortunately, it looks like another price hike could be in the works again. In the meantime, Walmart just created a way for its shoppers to save money on this in-demand necessity.

Amanda McDonald
Amanda has a master's degree in journalism from Northwestern University and a bachelor's degree in digital journalism from Loyola University Chicago. Read more about Amanda