Supervisor Elham AbolFateh
Editor in Chief Mohamed Wadie

FAO Senior Economist Warns of Global Food Price Inflation


Sun 22 Mar 2020 | 12:53 PM
Yassmine Elsayed

A senior economist at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has warned that the closures and the panic buying of food- fearing the outbreak of the Corona epidemic - could cause global food price inflation despite the abundant supply of basic grains and oilseeds in major exporting countries .

The world's richest countries have pumped unprecedented aid into the global economy with an increase in cases of corona virus infection across Europe and the United States, where the number of deaths in Italy has exceeded that in mainland China.

"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 Organisation (FAO).

"It is not a supply issue, but it is a behavioural change over food security," he told Reuters by phone from Rome, the FAO headquarters. "What if bulk buyers think they can't get wheat or rice shipments in May or June? That is what could lead to a global food supply crisis."

In recent weeks, consumers around the world -from Singapore to the United States- have lined up in major markets to stock items like rice, hand sanitizer and toilet papers.

Analysts said the logistical factors would likely turn into a major global price issue.

France's grain industry is scrambling to find enough trucks and staff to keep factories and ports running as the panic buying of pasta and flour coincides with a surge in wheat exports.

Restrictions imposed by some European Union countries at their borders with other member states in response to the pandemic are also disrupting food supplies, representatives of the industry and farmers said.