At Ferdinand's command, grain that had originally been bound from Russia for sale on the European continent was intercepted midway by Bulgaria.
No, that was wrong—it had been bought! The Russian bears had to sell their grain anyway, so what did it matter who bought it? As long as Bulgaria could pay, there was nothing wrong with turning back early.
As for what would happen in Europe? Did that even need asking? Naturally, grain prices would rise!
Bulgaria was stepping up its grain stockpiles, but the other nations had not been sitting idle either!
The British were in no hurry. With the Royal Navy at their back, they had plenty of grain to ship in from their colonies. The shipping costs might be a little higher, but so what if international grain prices rose? If prices got high enough, they could simply put colonial grain on the market and sell it!
The French did not care either. They were already a major grain exporter, so rising prices were perfect—they could make a killing! It was a pity this was not the time to make money, but the Gallic rooster was not short of that little bit of cash!
Compared with the Entente, whose members could all achieve grain self-sufficiency—the British Isles did not produce enough grain, but the colonies had plenty—Bulgaria was stockpiling grain for war preparations. It too had originally been a grain exporter, though its export volume was small.
The Alliance had it rough. The Ottoman Empire could still manage self-sufficiency, but as for exporting grain, its agricultural technology was still stuck in the last century, so there was no need even to think about it!
Romania and the Austro-Hungarian Empire were doing fairly well. Both were major European grain exporters; otherwise, Ferdinand suspected that Germany and Italy