Tag Archives: agriculture

Europe Faces Its Worst Food Crisis In Decades

 

 

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, headquarters located in Rome, was established in October 1945 by the United Nations assembly in the wake of World War 2. Its aim is to improve nutrition and living standards, agricultural productivity, and the conditions of farmers and make the best use of the world's food resources. It provides food and nutrition advice, technical assistance, and other support to people in need in both emergency and non-emergency situations.

During a meeting on 8th June 2022, FAO Director-General, Qu Dongyu, participated with dozens of ministers at the summit in Rome to tackle higher prices for food, fertilizer, and fuel. Acknowledging a “very complicated” global scenario, he urged countries in the Mediterranean to work together to mitigate food security risks that the war in Ukraine has further exacerbated. 

The Mediterranean Sea region includes 22 countries on three continents, each with diverse natural resources, agricultural traditions, and production potential. The Ministerial Mediterranean Dialogue on Food Crisis, an event convened by Italy’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Luigi Di Maio, drew ministers and government participants from more than 24 countries.

 

Minister Luigi di Maio opened the Dialogue, noting that seldom has hunger had such a high profile on the public agenda and emphasizing the importance of sustainable agrifood systems.

Qu noted that,

“We must keep our global food trade system open and ensure that agrifood exports are not restricted or taxed.” 

Qu Dongyu outlined four major focal points across which cooperative efforts should be made: 

  1. More investment in countries that are severely affected by the current increase in food prices. 
  2. Reduction of food loss and waste. 
  3. Better and more efficient use of natural resources, especially water and fertilizer. 
  4. A focus on technological and social innovations that can significantly reduce market failures in agriculture.

“We are facing the worst food crisis in decades,” said Svenja Schulze, Germany’s Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development, who co-chaired the event.

Participants agreed that high prices for fertilizers and fuels, both critical agricultural inputs, are urgent matters for global food security.

 

European countries are now looking at options for compensation for individual industries, which have enormously high costs due to energy prices.

Before the war in Ukraine began, the European Union was an exporter of grain, like Ukraine and Russia. Export from Ukraine went mainly to the Middle East and North Africa. But that is likely to change now.

The Arab states now have grain stocks purchased, so prices would not have to go up again in the autumn. So far, the harvest looks good in the rest of Europe, but also in countries such as Australia and Canada.

Rising food prices could stabilize after this year's grain harvest, estimates the Food Chamber of the Czech Republic. According to her, current agricultural prices are speculative, with a good harvest, growth could calm down.

Following this, the prices of feed, flour and meat would no longer have to rise – however, food will not return to last year's values. "An absolutely crucial signal will be how this year's harvest ends, because prices now do not fully reflect reality," said Miroslav Koberna, director of the Chamber of Programming and Strategy of Czech Republic.

 

How Do Food Process Compare Across Europe?

Food prices are skyrocketing across Europe. In some countries, however, it does not burden people's wallets as much as in the Czech Republic. Experts say that this is due to higher incomes and different levels of food taxation.

In the Czech Republic, most foodstuffs are subject to 15% VAT. But some states are more lenient. For example, in Poland, several foods are not subject to VAT. They have a similar situation in Hungary.

For example, according to the so-called Big Mac index, the famous hamburger Big Mac earns the fastest in Luxembourg or Switzerland; it takes them about ten minutes. The longest then on one Big Mac they work in Ukraine, almost an hour. It'll take the Czechs about half an hour. 

 

Czech households spend 17.1% of their income on food, which is close to the European average. A quarter of the senior pension falls on basic foodstuffs in the Czech Republic. Comparing Czech food prices – in Italy are 22% more expensive. Lower prices of foods are in Bulgaria and Poland, about 20-25% more than in Czechia are the food prices in Greece, Austria, Italy or France.

In Czechia, the prices of foods in comparison to last year grow extremely. In May 2022  flour prices  accelerated to 64.6% year on year, for butter to about 52 %, for semi-skimmed long-life milk to about 42% and for eggs to about 34%.

 

        “Yellow prices” are reduced – very often quickly sold out

 

People in Ireland or Scandinavia spend the least on food. On the contrary, they pay the most for them in Romania and the Baltic states. In Germany the average income is about three times more than the Czechia, so of course Germans can afford to buy more food, says one Czech economist.

European countries are currently dealing with compensation options for individual sectors, which have enormously high costs due to energy prices.

 

Germany will pay about 32 million euro, Poland 800 000 euro and France will according to experts be the clear winner in the food industry due to its highest investments in rescuing processors. 

Food Inflation In Europe – The Numbers Say it All

This table shows the percentages of inflation in European countries – highest inflation in food prices has Moldova with 30.2%, second place is Lithuania with 24.8% and so on. Absolutely in the best situation is Switzerland with only 1.1% food inflation.

 

 

 

Source:

Ceskenoviny.cz

Idnes.cz

Fao.org

tradingeconomics.com

 

 

 

World is threatened with famine

World is threatened with famine – warning of German minister

(information on important politics meeting from Czech web)

Russia's invasion of Ukraine threatens the world's biggest famine since World War II. At a press conference on Wednesday18th May 2022 German Development Minister Svenja Schulze said this at the start of a two-day meeting of development ministers from the countries of the group of major world economies of the G7. She said that it was therefore necessary to create an international alliance for food security.
"Food security was a problem before the war, but the Russian invasion of Ukraine dramatically escalated the situation," Mrs.Schulze said. "The world is facing the biggest famine since World War II," she warned.

The G7 food ministers invited as guests Indonesia, which now chairs the G20 group of the world's largest economies, India, Senegal and representatives of the UN development programme and the World Bank. Ukrainian prime minister Denys Shmyhal will also participate in the debates via video link.
One of the main topics of the meeting will be ensuring the export of agricultural products from Ukraine. Many countries in North Africa and Asia depend on this land, which is called the breadbasket of Europe.

Due to the Russian blockade of Ukrainian Black Sea ports, it is impossible to export grain and other food by sea, European states, including Poland and Germany, began to organize export by rail.

Thus, according to the German minister, food security is the most pressing issue that the ministers of the countries of the group will discuss. In Europe, we have too many fields sown with profitable crops, relying on imports from Ukraine, Russia and India. All three countries have enough to worry about.


Many of us can ask how it is possible that Africa, where it is possible to harvest crops twice a year is constantly dependent on food aid?

Global annual wheat production exceeds 700 million tons and is growing every year. The largest wheat producer is the European Union with an annual production of around 150 million tonnes. France and Germany have the largest share here. Only China, with a production of 130 million tonnes a year, can match Europe in wheat production. India ( 90 million tons) is also a major producer.  Russia (70 mil. tonnes) and the USA (60 mil. tons). In the Czech Republic, about 5.5 million tons of wheat are grown annually.
The EU is the largest consumer of wheat, accounting for 18% of global consumption. This is followed by China (17%), India (12%) and Russia (6%). Most of the wheat is consumed in the countries where it is grown, and about a fifth of the production goes to international trade. The largest wheat exporters are the United States (26% of global exports), Canada (14%) and Russia (10%).

Another important agriculture product is sunflower seed for oil production.
The three most important world growers produce 70-75% of the total volume of sunflower seeds. This is on first place  Ukraine (for the marketing year 2021/2022, the production estimate was about 17 million  tons), Russia (15,5 million t) and the European Union ( 10.5 million t).

Not only are food prices in Europe and around the world already rising rapidly, but the situation may get even worse. Let's hope that politicians will find a quick and good solution.

                    Thank you for reading

                                                       Margaret
 

Global wheat market shortens due to the export policy

The global wheat market is going to reduce in 2019 due to the unfavorable weather in EU, Kazakhstan, Russia, Ukraine, and Australia.

But nature is not the only reason for that: the governments of the major wheat exporters constrain the global wheat supply. It has increased costs and uncertainty for global wheat buyers.

Ukraine and Argentina have changed their laws for the wheat export due to the strong control of the internal price for the bread and wheat in general.

In Ukraine, wheat traders are allowed to export no more than 16 million tons from now, including 8 tons of milling wheat. This limit will cause Ukraine’s total wheat exports to fall by 7 percent.

In Argentina, President Macri announced a 4 peso per dollar export tax on wheat and corn shipments. This export tax will raise Argentine wheat prices by roughly 10 percent.

These policy changes and uncertainty from the world’s top wheat exporters come at a time when global wheat consumption is increasing and with it, the need for additional global exportable supply.

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