Certainly, Mr. Chair, the unavailability of fertilizer in the world stands at the worst level since prepandemic: We know that the price indexes are now at 98% above the prepandemic level for fertilizer, according to the IMF. It's very clear that without access to fertilizer, the poorest and most vulnerable countries in the world that rely upon it to eke out sufficient food to cover parts of their sustainability are the worst affected.
We know from the IMF that the estimated additional costs to the import bills for some 48 countries in the world most affected by food shock are almost $9 billion today from the pre-February 2022 invasion time. Conflict, economic shocks, climate extremes and elevated fertilizer prices have an impact on global food insecurity, and today we see a situation in which 345 million people in 79 countries face acute food insecurity, so a fertilizer crisis—