At least 35 countries have restricted exports in the last two years

In the last two years, because of the covid-19 pandemic and, more recently, soaring global food prices in the aftermath of the war in Ukraine, at least 35 countries have restricted exports of agricultural commodities, said Otaviano Canuto, a senior economist at the Policy Center for the New South.

On May 24, he participated in a live stream organized by the Confederation of Agriculture and Livestock of Brazil (CNA) to discuss food prices around the globe and future challenges on this topic. According to him, what is happening now with food prices resembles the global food price crisis in the first decade of the 2000s. He cited India as a recent example of a country that restricted exports.

The country, which is usually the fourth-largest wheat exporter in the world, announced last Saturday a ban on foreign sales of the cereal. “This immediately affected wheat prices, which rose 6% as soon as markets opened the following Monday.”

Canuto also recalled the case of Indonesia, which contributes 65% of global palm oil exports, and recently decided to restrict sales of this product. “This decision caused vegetable oil prices to explode.” Furthermore, the wheat crop failure in China, “one of the worst ever recorded,” according to Canuto, “as well as high temperatures in India between March and April, which hit hard the wheat belt,” could aggravate the situation and cause food prices to rise even more.

The economist recalled that, before the Indian restrictions, the wheat crop in the country made up for some gaps left by Ukraine, another major exporter, as well as Canada, which also suffered from bad weather damaging its crops. In addition, sunflower oil is an important food item affected by the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, as two-thirds of the world’s supply depends on these two countries.

“The conflict in Ukraine has damaged the country’s ports and agricultural structure, limiting its food exports for a long time,” said Canuto. “Ukrainian exports have dropped from 5 million tonnes a month to 500,000 tonnes a month, not to mention the wheat stored in Ukrainian ports that Russia won’t let out.”

Sources: Época Negócios

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https://epocanegocios.globo.com/Economia/noticia/2022/05/epoca-negocios-alimentos-pelo-menos-35-paises-restringiram-exportacoes-nos-ultimos-dois-anos.html

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