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Book (stand-alone)Agricultural trade & policy responses during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 2021
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No results found.Measures adopted around the world to contain the COVID-19 outbreak helped curb the spread of the virus and lowered the pressure on health systems. However, they also affected the global trading system, and the supply and demand of agricultural and food products. In response to concerns over food security and food safety worldwide, many countries reacted immediately to apply policy measures aiming to limit potentially adverse impacts on domestic markets. Covering the first half of 2020, the report provides an overview of short-term changes in trade patterns and policy measures related to agricultural trade that countries adopted in response to the pandemic. Despite the shocks caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and containment measures, the efforts of governments and agricultural sector stakeholders to keep agricultural markets open and trade flowing smoothly contributed to remarkably resilient value chains. Effects on global trade in food and agriculture remained limited to short-term disruptions at the very beginning of the pandemic. Governments’ policy responses covered a wide range of measures, including export restrictions, lowering of import barriers, and domestic measures. Most of the trade restricting measures were short-lived. International political commitments were pivotal in the coordination of a global response to the crisis and in deterring countries from taking unilateral measures that could have harmed food security in other parts of the world. However, COVID-19 is still spreading and may entail severe implications for access to food and longer-term shifts in global demand and supply of food and agricultural commodities. -
Brochure, flyer, fact-sheetFAO COVID-19 Response and Recovery Programme - Trade and food safety standards
Facilitating and accelerating food and agricultural trade during COVID-19 and beyond
2020The COVID-19 pandemic will have an unprecedented impact on global and regional trade. According to the World Trade Organization (WTO), world merchandise trade in 2020 could fall by as much as 32 percent. The current situation is unlike any other food or health crisis in modern times, with simultaneous supply and demand shocks that are global in nature. Labour shortages due to curtailed mobility are affecting all aspects of the food and agriculture supply chains, from production, to processing and retailing, leading to both immediate and longer-term risks for food production and availability. At the same time, the significant scale of the economic recession, amid widespread job losses and reductions in income and remittances is raising serious concerns about hunger and malnutrition. The most vulnerable groups are already poor and food insecure, particularly in countries affected by multiple crises (extreme weather variability, the locust plague and plant and animal disease), which are seeing significant currency depreciation (notably commodity-dependent economies), and those affected by conflict, where supply chain distribution and logistics links are already fragile. All this has prompted many countries to take various measures to protect their populations from the crisis. Addressing policy barriers and physical constraints will also be crucial for importing countries, especially net food-importing developing countries, small island developing states and landlocked developing countries, to address domestic supply disruptions, improve food availability and stabilize local prices. Countries may also lack the necessary policy and regulatory frameworks to promote social inclusion and ensure that the benefits of trade reach all. -
Brochure, flyer, fact-sheetTrade and food safety standards
Strengthening national and regional market intelligence and policy monitoring in response to COVID-19 and other shocks
2020Also available in:
No results found.COVID-19-induced disruptions to trade, logistics and market flows are making it difficult to maintain the stability of agrifood supply, demand and operations across Europe and Central Asia. Since early April, FAO has been conducting rapid weekly surveys to monitor and assess the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on agrifood value chains in certain programme countries. Of major concern is the decline in food trade volumes due to logistics disruption, export restrictions, tighter health and safety regulations and border controls, dwindling demand, and fewer sales by small producers. Data collected in June and July 2020 suggest that the pandemic has had implications for transportation, storage, sales, the labour market and the availability of inputs in most countries. COVID-19 has substantially affected the financial situation of agrifood supply-chain operators, shrinking their economic options and triggering undesirable survival strategies to cope with the financial shock, including the sale of productive assets. This action sheet presents FAO's COVID-19 Response and Recovery Programme's key priority area of "Trade and food safety standards" for Europe and Central Asia.
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