This policy brief provides an overview of the different food security objectives that underlie the use of trade and related policy measures, based on Chapter 3 of the State of Commodity Markets (SOCO) 2016.

This policy brief provides an overview of the different food security objectives that underlie the use of trade and related policy measures, based on Chapter 3 of the State of Commodity Markets (SOCO) 2016.

This policy brief provides an overview of the trends in agricultural trade, and the implications for food security, based on Chapter 1 of the State of Commodity Markets (SOCO) 2016.

This brief is in continuation of the "Trade Policy Briefs" (link: http://www.fao.org/economic/est/publications/trade-policy-briefs/en/ ) of which the last issue was No.16.

In December 2013, agreement was reached on a small number of issues under negotiation in the long-running Doha Round of WTO Negotiations. The set of issues, broadly known as the Bali package after the location of the 9th WTO Ministerial Conference during which the agreement was reached, comprised three main components, one of which related to the use of public procurement for food stockholding which can be used by...

Many developing countries are currently under pressure to reduce their trade barriers to the entry of agricultural products. This pressure comes both as a result of ongoing trade negotiations (multilateral, plurilateral or bilateral) and due to policy advice from donors and international organizations based on the assumption that a liberal agricultural trade policy is necessary to allow growth through trade expansion. Although developing countries are very heterogeneous both...

There has been a recent proliferation of simulation modelling exercises attempting to quantify the potential economic gains from further liberalization of agricultural trade, and in doing so, seeking to inform the current Doha Round of multilateral trade negotiations. This paper seeks to contribute to a better appreciation of what the results of simulation models actually mean, and the extent to which they can be used to inform debates...

2004 was declared the International Year of Rice by the United Nations General Assembly, a tribute to a commodity that is the staple food for about half of the world’s population and also a major income earner in developing countries. Because of its strategic importance, rice has been subject to a host of policy interventions that have made it feature among the most distorted of all agricultural commodities. For this...