TURKISH AGRI.NEWS

The wave of protectionist measures on agricultural goods that emerged as the coronavirus spread around the world has already begun to recede. Of at least 17 countries that sought to limit food exports to protect local supplies, about half have backtracked all or some of the measures, according to a tracker from the International Food Policy Research Institute. That includes several major grain shippers such as Vietnam and Romania, although top wheat exporter Russia has kept its curbs in place. Immediate worries about food shortages have eased in many parts of the world as supply chains continue to flow despite lockdowns. Meanwhile, even short-lived restrictions have resulted in spoiled crops and stranded cargoes. Organizations such as the United Nations have urged against measures that could harm food security and raise prices. Food Hoarding... “There wasn’t really any issue with having tight inventories,” said Abdolreza Abbassian, senior economist at the United Nations’...

Press release... 02 April 2020, Rome - World food prices declined sharply in March, driven mostly by demand-side contractions linked to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the drop in global oil prices due mostly to expectations of economic slowdown as governments roll out restrictions designed to respond to the health crisis. The FAO Food Price Index , which tracks monthly changes in the international prices of commonly traded food commodities, averaged 172.2 points during the month, down 4.3 percent from February. "The price drops are largely driven by demand factors, not supply, and the demand factors are influenced by ever-more deteriorating economic prospects," said FAO Senior Economist Abdolreza Abbassian. The FAO Sugar Price Index posted the biggest drop, down 19.1 percent from the previous month. Causes include lower demand from out-of-home consumption linked to the confinement measures imposed by many countries, and lower demand from ethanol producers due t...

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Lockdowns and panic food buying due to the coronavirus pandemic could ignite world food inflation even though there are ample supplies of staple grains and oilseeds in key exporting nations, a senior economist at FAO and agricultural analysts said. The world’s richest nations poured unprecedented aid into the global economy as coronavirus cases ballooned across Europe and the United States, with the number of deaths in Italy outstripping those in mainland China, where the virus originated. With over 270,000 infections and more than 11,000 deaths, the epidemic has stunned the world and drawn comparisons with periods such as World War Two and the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic. “All you need is panic buying from big importers such as millers or governments to create a crisis,” said Abdolreza Abbassian, senior economist at the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). “It is not a supply issue, but it is a behavioral change over food security,” he...