Villager Caroline is seen in a withered maize crops field in Kidemu sub-location in Kilifi County, Kenya, March 23, 2022. Photo:Xinhua

The fighting in Ukraine has a significant impact on the global food markets and could leave an additional 11 to 19 million people with chronic hunger, the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) of the United Nations (UN) warned on Friday.

FAO spokesperson Boubaker Ben Belhassen told a press briefing here that both countries involved in the Russia-Ukraine conflict were major producers of agricultural commodities in the world, with a combined share of around 30 percent of global wheat exports.

The countries impacted most by the conflict are in the north African region, he said.

He cited the FAO's latest food outlook report, which pointed to a likely tightening of food commodity markets in 2022 due to the "soaring input prices, concerns about the weather, and increased market uncertainties."

He said that higher international food prices are projected to increase global food import bills to a record 1.8 trillion U.S. dollars in 2022.

"Higher import bills mainly reflected higher unit costs rather than higher volumes, with many countries, especially the economically vulnerable ones, set to face higher bills while importing smaller volumes," he said.