Global Food Import Bill To Hit Record High Of $1.8trn

Global food import bill is about to hit a record high of $1.8 trillion in 2022, Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has disclosed.

Gatekeepers News reports that FAO’s Director-General, QU Dongyu, disclosed this on Thursday at the opening of the 75th session of the committee on commodity problems (CCP).

He referred to this year’s edition of The State of Agricultural Commodity Markets (SOCO) that focused on the structural changes in the global agri-food markets, and on the role of trade measures in addressing environmental impacts.

“In spite of the tendency to trade mostly within regions, multilateral trade remains the most efficient way to promote market access and economic growth for all and only multilateral collaboration can effectively address global environmental challenges such as climate change,” the FAO DG said.

He also underlined the important role that trade can play for global food security and sustainability as it promotes food security and nutrition by linking food surplus regions with those in deficit.

The CCP reviews global issues that affect the production, trade, distribution, consumption, and prices of food and agricultural products. It deliberates key issues, examines the effects on food security, and makes policy recommendations.

The DG pointed to FAO’s proposed Food Import Financing Facility to provide balance-of-payment support to the most affected countries. Transparency is critical to reduce uncertainty in agrifood markets, FAO Director-General said at Committee on Commodity Problems 75th Session.

According to him, global food security is threatened in many and often overlapping ways, including the impact of COVID-19, conflicts and persistent extreme climate conditions, a situation that makes agrifood markets’ transparency and international trade all the more critical.

“It is essential that countries stop using trade measures that add to price increases and extreme price volatility, and harm those that depend on global markets for their food security,” Qu stressed.

Qu pointed to the various challenges facing the world and their impact on food security, noting:

The ongoing conflicts, including the war in Ukraine, are causing increases in the prices of food, feed, fuel, and fertiliser.

The FAO Food Price Index reached a record high in March, this year of almost 160 points and has only decreased slightly since then.

The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) report, shows that up to 828 million people suffered chronic hunger last year. This represents an increase of 150 million since the outbreak of the pandemic.

Qu was clear about the key role trade must play in solving these problems and in achieving the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals.

The DG noted that FAO continues to provide valuable support to inform and guide policy decisions, by providing up-to-date and objective information on markets, monitoring policy developments, promoting dialogue, and proposing policy recommendations. In this context, the G20 Agricultural Market Information System (AMIS), hosted by FAO, continues to play a leading role.

He also referred to this year’s edition of the OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook report, which focuses on assessing the medium-term prospects for agricultural commodity markets for the next decade, 2022 to 2031.

The DG, while noting that the global food import bill is on course to hit a new record high of $1.8 trillion in 2022, due to higher prices and transport costs, rather than volumes,  pointed to FAO’s proposed Food Import Financing Facility to provide balance-of-payment support to the most affected countries.