special release · the global food crisis: hype and reality 1 the global food crisis: hype and...

Rosario Bella Guzman

The Global Food Crisis:hype and realiTy

July

200

8Is

sue

No.

7

A Publication of Pesticide Action Network Asia and the Pacific (PAN AP)and People’s Coalition on Food Sovereignty (PCFS)

SPECIALRELEASE

1The Global Food Crisis: hype and realiTy

The Global Food Crisis:hype and realiTy

rosario bella Guzman

Staff Box Writer Rosario Bella Guzman (IBON Foundation) editor-in-chief Sarojeni Rengam (PAN AP) editor and project Coordinator Gilbert Sape (PAN AP) production staff Teh Chun Hong (PAN AP) Melissa Yeoh Beng Chin (PAN AP) lay-out and Cover design Dennis Longid (Red Leaf Designs) Cover photo Shutterstock

2 The Global Food Crisis: hype and realiTy


introduction

Unrest over food, leading to “food riots” in some countries and dubbed as “food war” by the In-ternational Monetary Fund (IMF), has hogged the headlines lately. But the depressing news have turned bizarre as proponents of neo-liberal globalization (the IMF included) have used the issue to push for more neo-liberal restructuring in food and agriculture, leading many to believe that the global food crisis is hyped.

Most of the “food riots” are happening in under-developed countries where workers and peas-ants have become less and less able to afford food due to rocketing prices. Ironically, these are happening while giant agribusiness transnation-al corporations (TNCs) such as Cargill and grain traders such as Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) have increased their profits as of the first quar-ter of 2008 by 86% and 67%, respectively. Ironi-cally still, here come the IMF, the World Bank, Asian Development Bank (ADB), UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and the World Trade Organization (WTO) with solutions lead-ing to greater globalization, in particular the resumption and completion of WTO talks and agreements, which have in the first place ag-gravated the global food crisis and intensified TNC profiteering.

What is the issue?

According to the Sunday Herald, the global food crisis may be humanity’s biggest crisis in the 21st century as it comes in the heels of unprec-edented global warming, spiralling oil prices and population explosion. Global food prices have soared and poverty and hunger have spread from rural to urban centres and from the devel-oping to the developed countries. The Sunday Herald dubs 2008 thus as the year of global food crisis.1

Global food prices have risen by 75% since 2000, according to the World Bank. Wheat pric-es have increased by 200%, prices of rice and soybean have also hit all-time highs, and corn is at its most expensive in 12 years. Prices of meat, poultry, eggs and dairy products naturally

follow the upward trends of grains prices.

High prices have driven a string of food pro-tests round the world. Tortilla ‘riots’ in Mexico, disputes over food rationing in West Bengal, protests over grain prices in Senegal, Maurita-nia and other parts of Africa, hungry children’s march in Yemen, and pig farmers’ protest in London, to name a few.

Protests erupted in Haiti and Cameroon over in-creasing food prices, leading to five deaths in Haiti and 40 people being killed in Cameroon. There have also been protests in Indonesia, the Philippines, the Ivory Coast, Mozambique, Sen-egal, Bolivia, Ethiopia and Madagascar. 2

According to the FAO, more than 73 million peo-ple in 78 countries that depend on food aid from the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) are facing reduced rations this year un-less additional $500 million is infused. The FAO has also warned that increasing prices have “triggered a food crisis” in 36 countries. (quotes provided)

Meanwhile, the UN estimates that an area of fertile soil the size of Ukraine is lost every year because of drought, deforestation and climate instability. The World Bank projects that global food demand would double by 2030 partly be-cause global population would increase by three billion by 2050. The Bank is also citing the im-pact of runaway oil prices on fertilizer prices and in turn on food prices.3

Without a doubt the world is facing its worst food crisis. But too much focus has been given to increasing food prices as the one causing the crisis instead of the other way around. Global warming, population growth and sky-high oil prices are also overemphasized as aggravating factors instead of explaining production prac-tices and relations that may have contributed to climate change, population pressures and oil price speculation.

What is the real nature of the global food cri-sis? What is causing it and what else can aggra-vate it? What are the real solutions? These are


the basic questions that have to be addressed before proponents of neo-liberal globalization muddle the issue.

Tight supply?

Agricultural commodity prices experienced steep increases in 2007, averaging at 37% in value. The price boom was led primarily by dairy and oils, although prices of other commodities except sugar also rose significantly. (See Fig-ures 1 and 2) 4 5

Price movements (whether increases or de-creases) are not uncommon among food com-modities. But the current price increases are happening simultaneously for nearly all major food and feed commodities. High grains prices also have ripple effects on retail prices of basic food such as bread or pasta, meat and milk.

Traditional economic notion points out that pric-es honestly reflect the balance of supply and de-mand, thus leading many to believe that supply, particularly production, is the main culprit for the steep food inflation. This may not be the entire picture, however. Current global food supply is simply described as tight, which does not fully explain the current phenomenon on prices.

Cereals production is forecast to grow by 5% in 2008, wheat by 1.1%; coarse grains by 9.4%; and rice by 0.1%. (See Tables 1 to 4)

Production of meat and dairy were projected in 2007 to grow by 1% and 2.3%, respectively. Meanwhile, oilseeds production is likely to de-cline by 3.3% in 2008.6

As may be gleaned from FAO data, demand growth for these food commodities is likely to be a little less than supply growth, except for rice. Per caput consumption of meat and meat prod-ucts is projected to remain at its current level of 40 kilograms per year while per caput dairy con-sumption will grow by 1.2%, still slower than the mentioned supply growth of 2.3%. On the other hand, oilseeds utilization is forecast to grow by 3.4% for oils and fats (against production growth of only 1.7%) and 5.8% for oilmeals and cakes (in the face of 4% decline in production). Panic may be stemming from FAO estimates on where 2007 figures would end. Except for rice, oilseeds, meat and dairy, the FAO estimated that food production would be lower in 2007 than in 2006. The biggest drop would occur in wheat production.

*Changes in price are indexed against the costs dating from 1998-2000soUrCe: source:Fao

Months

Figure 1rising Food prices, 2005-2007

2007 2006 2005

200

180

160

140

120

100J F M A M J J S O N DA

1998-2000 = 100*

Months

Figure 2prices rises by Food Type, 2007

dairy Meat Cereals

350

300

250

200

150

100J F M A M J J S O N DA

1998-2000 = 100*

oils and fuels sugar


Table 1World cereal market at a glance

2005/06 2006/07estimate

2007/08forecast

Change:2007/08

over2006/07

million tonnes %

World Balance

Production 2,051.4 2,009.4 2,108.9 5.0

Trade 246.6 255.4 251.5 -1.5

Total utilization 2,037.6 2,062.4 2,105.0 2.1

Table 2World wheat market at a glance

2005/06 2006/07estimate

2007/08forecast

Change:2007/08

over2006/07

million tonnes %

World Balance

Production 624.7 595.4 602.1 1.1

Trade 110.3 113.6 107.5 -5.4

Total utilization 619.7 621.0 618.7 -0.4

Table 3World coarse grains market at a glance

2005/06 2006/07estimate

2007/08forecast

Change:2007/08

over2006/07

million tonnes %

World Balance

Production 1,002.4 985.2 1,077.5 9.4

Trade 107.1 111.8 113.5 1.6

Total utilization 999.6 1,015.5 1,057.1 4.1

Table 4World rice market at a glance

2005/06 2006/07estimate

2007/08forecast

Change:2007/08

over2006/07

million tonnes %

World Balance

Production 424.3 428.7 429.3 0.1

Trade 29.2 29.9 30.5 1.8

Total utilization 418.3 425.9 429.2 0.8

Looking at actual 2007 and 2008 data, however, it appears that panic is unfounded and the tight-ness of supply is manageable since most of the commodities registered increases in produc-tion, except for wheat. On the other hand, end-ing stocks for important grains either declined (in the case of wheat and corn) or were main-tained (in the case of rice) in 2007, but overall food supply is starting to post positive growth as of May 2008. (See Annexes 1 to 7)

Looking at actual consumption, the year 2007 was exceptional as consumption had outpaced production of wheat, corn and other coarse grains, although similar thing already happened in 2004 and other years. But as for the rest of food types, consumption of rice was a little below production, consumption of meat and oilseeds remained well below production, and consump-tion of dairy remained stable against increasing production. (See Figures 3 to 6)7

In sum, consumption is outstripping production and ending stocks are declining but only in the case of wheat and corn. Meanwhile, production and consumption forecasts, although lacklustre,

remain favourable for all food types while ac-tual production posts tepid growth. What then is the reason for prices to increase sharply? This points the issue to trade.

narrow trade?

Global food trade has been estimated to be only around 10% of global food production, which means that most of the foods produced are con-sumed domestically, and in the case of many poor countries, immediately by the direct producers. In these countries, around 60-80% of the popula-tion are engaged in small-unit food production that has miniscule surpluses for trade. To illustrate, only 18% of the latest production of wheat; 8.6% of maize; 7.4% of rice; 20.4% of total oilcrops; 8.9% of total meat; and 6.8% of dairy ended up in the international market. The rest were consumed in the producing countries. (See Annexes 8 to 12)

In addition to the international market being nar-row, being a top producer does not guarantee domination of the international market. The big-


World C orn P roduc tion and C ons umption

0100000200000300000400000500000600000700000800000900000

2003/042004/052005/062006/072007/082008/09May

World TotalProduction

World TotalConsumption

900,000 800,000 700,000 600,000 500,000 400,000 300,000 200,000 100,000

0

Figure 5World Corn production and Consumption

W orld Wheat P roduc tion and C ons umption

500,000520,000540,000560,000580,000600,000620,000640,000660,000680,000

2003/042004/052005/062006/072007/082008/09May



World Wheat P roduc tion and C ons umption

500,000520,000540,000560,000580,000600,000620,000640,000660,000680,000

2003/042004/052005/062006/072007/082008/09May





2003/042004/05

2005/062006/07

2007/082008/09May

World C oars e G rains

800,000

850,000

900,000

950,000

1,000,000

1,050,000

1,100,000

2003/042004/052005/062006/072007/082008/09May



Figure 6World Coarse Grains

World W heat P roduc tion and C ons umption

500,000520,000540,000560,000580,000600,000620,000640,000660,000680,000

2003/042004/052005/062006/072007/082008/09May




500,000520,000540,000560,000580,000600,000620,000640,000660,000680,000

2003/042004/052005/062006/072007/082008/09May





2003/042004/05

2005/062006/07

2007/082008/09May

1,100,000

1,050,000

1,000,000

950,000

900,000

850,000

800,000

W orld W heat P roduc tion and C ons umption

500,000520,000540,000560,000580,000600,000620,000640,000660,000680,000

2003/042004/052005/062006/072007/082008/09May



680,000 660,000 640,000 620,000 600,000 580,000 560,000 540,000 520,000 500,000

Figure 3World Wheat production and Consumption

W orld Wheat P roduc tion and C ons umption

500,000520,000540,000560,000580,000600,000620,000640,000660,000680,000

2003/042004/052005/062006/072007/082008/09May




500,000520,000540,000560,000580,000600,000620,000640,000660,000680,000

2003/042004/052005/062006/072007/082008/09May





2003/042004/05

2005/062006/07

2007/082008/09May

W orld R ic e P roduc tion and C ons umption

370,000380,000390,000400,000410,000420,000430,000440,000

2003/042004/052005/062006/072007/082008/09May



440,000 430,000 420,000 410,000 400,000 390,000 380,000 370,000

Figure 4World rice production and Consumption

World W heat P roduc tion and C ons umption

500,000520,000540,000560,000580,000600,000620,000640,000660,000680,000

2003/042004/052005/062006/072007/082008/09May




500,000520,000540,000560,000580,000600,000620,000640,000660,000680,000

2003/042004/052005/062006/072007/082008/09May





2003/042004/05

2005/062006/07

2007/082008/09May

gest food producers are not necessarily the top exporters.

In wheat, although the EU, China and India are the top producers and consumers and the US only ranks fourth, the US is the number one ex-porter. Brazil, Egypt, Japan, Indonesia and the EU are the top importers. (See Figure 7)

In corn, the US accounts for 38% of production and 59% of trade. Japan is a top importer, fol-lowed by Mexico, although the latter is among the top five producers. In coarse grains, the US, China, EU, Brazil and India are the domi-nant producers; they are also the top consum-ers along with Mexico. But the US accounts for more than half of global trade, with Brazil (7.1%) a distant second. Japan, Mexico, Korea and the

E.U. are top importers. (See Figure 8)

The irony is sharper in the case of rice. The top five producers are China, India, Indonesia, Ban-gladesh and Vietnam; they are also the top five consumers. Thailand (6th top producer), India, Vietnam, US (accounting for only 1.5% of global production) and Pakistan are the top exporters. Philippines, Indonesia, Nigeria, EU and Saudi Arabia are the top importers. (See Figure 9)

In oilseeds, the US, Brazil, China and Argentina are best producers. Except for China, they are also the top exporters along with Canada. China and the EU are the top importers.

In beef and veal, the US, Brazil, EU and China are the top producers and consumers. But Bra-


Figure 7Wheat exports

UnitedStates

40

30

20

10

0EU 25

EU 27

Argentina CIS Others

2006/07 estimate2007/08 forecast

Million Tonnes

Figure 8Coarse grains exports

80

60

40

20

0


Million Tonnes

UnitedStates

Argentina CIS Others

zil, Australia and India are the top exporters with the US and Russian Federation as top import-ers. In pork, China, EU and US account for 80% of production and 79% of consumption. The US, EU and Canada are top pork exporters with Ja-pan and Russian Federation as top markets. In broiler meat, the US, China, Brazil and EU are top producers and consumers while Brazil and the US are top exporters. Russian Federation, Japan and EU are top importers.8

In dairy, the EU and India are top producers overall. Per milk product, New Zealand and the EU are dominant. (See Figure 10)

When it comes to importation, the global food trade is saddled yet with another irony. A lot of food producing developing countries have be-come food importers overtime, many of them net food importers even.

In the 1960s, developing countries had overall agricultural surplus of US$7 billion per year, but

Figure 9rice exports by the major exporters

China

10

8

6

4

2

0India Pakistan Thailand USA Vietnam


Million Tonnes, milled eq.

Figure 10Major exporters of dairy products

Whole Milk poWderWorld

New ZealandEU 25ArgentinaAustralia

skiM Milk poWderWorld

USAEU 25New ZealandAustralia

bUTTerWorld

EU 25 New ZealandAustraliaUkraine

CheeseWorld

EU 25 New ZealandAustraliaUkraine

1,769585486162157

1,110281189221166

9103113206824

1,590546263208116

1,823645412215169

1,18229284

316184

9072433688118

1,62958229920950

1,771680412172140

1,200300140337150

907240380

6017

1,645605316195

60

2005 2006prelim.

2007f’cast

thousand tonnes

such surplus had disappeared by the end of the 1980s. During most of the 1990s and early 2000s, developing countries were net import-ers of agricultural products. Without Brazil, the deficit of the rest of the developing world would have been considerably bigger.9

The change was even more pronounced among least-developed countries, which had shifted from being net exporters of agricultural com-


modities to net importers over the same period, and their imports had more than doubled their exports.10

Today, 70% of so-called developing countries are net food importers.11 To name a few, Brazil and Egypt are net importers of wheat; Philip-pines and Indonesia, rice; Mexico, corn; China, soybean; Russia, South Korea and Mexico, meat; and China, Thailand, Philippines, Ma-laysia, Algeria and Venezuela, dairy products. Many of the importing countries are not even heavy consumers of the products they import! (See Annexes 13 to 23)

In sum, 1) The international market for food is narrow. Why then is it crucial in dictating local prices? 2) Not all major country producers of food commodities are top exporters or partici-pants in world trade. But why is the US domi-nant in both production (and consumption) and trade, even in commodities where it is not the number one producer? 3) Many food producing developing countries have become food import-ers overtime and not even all importing coun-tries are major consumers of the products they import. Why?

The ADB points out that food prices are high precisely because international trade is not open and wide enough.12 But all the above questions only reveal that the global food crisis is political-economic in nature, i.e. it has more profound causes other than the weather or the increasing demand of China and India as also reasoned by so-called analysts, and it is aggravated by conscious international policies.

Crisis and globalization

For the record (which may gleaned from An-nexes 1 to 7), farmers around the world have produced record-level outputs for cereals, oil-seeds, meat and dairy, which have even out-paced the expansion of consumption and popu-lation growth.

While it is true that ending stocks of cereals are declining and at their lowest level in 30 years, and that apprehensions are mounting whether attempts to rebuild stocks would succeed, the truth is there is enough food to feed everyone. There could have been more than enough even, but it is not happening and what is currently pro-

duced is not reaching the people who need it. Aside from the fact that only 48% of cereals goes to human food while more than half goes to feeds and other industrial uses such as bio-fuels, something is fundamentally wrong with the world’s food system.13 14 As the international NGO GRAIN puts it, food has turned from nour-ishment and livelihood for many into a commod-ity for speculation for only a few people.

The fundamental reality is agricultural and food production in underdeveloped countries has been in crisis for the longest time. It is a crisis that is due to decades-old landlessness of farm-ers, backwardness of their tools and produc-tion, monopoly of land, tools and inputs, TNC incursions and control in production and trade, and existing exploitative relations such as ten-ancy, usury, overpricing of inputs by TNCs and traders, and underpricing of farmers’ produce by traders and middlemen. All these are com-pounded by neglectful governments that would rather support elite interests than uplift farmers’ condition. As mentioned, farmers’ productivity could have been even higher if not for this fun-damental crisis

Landlessness remains prevalent and has wors-ened, with vast tracts of land still in the hands of landlords and corporations. This basic problem of agriculture has not been addressed by so-called land reform programs, which are other-wise watered down and loophole-ridden precise-ly to perpetuate land ownership by big landlords and corporations, and because governments do not have the funds to compensate landlords. Majority of the land tillers in the Third World are still landless. According to the UN Hunger Task Force, 20% of the world’s hungry are direct ag-ricultural producers who do not have their own land, which is an underestimation but an indica-tion nonetheless of the irony of plenty.

A huge portion of agricultural production in the Third World remains un-mechanized and done in backyards and with backward tools, which on the other hand, are not even owned by the peasants. Due to lack of access to production resources, farmers continue to rent and pay for land, production tools and other natural resourc-es. The farmers’ lack of capital and low pro-ductivity has also allowed TNCs and traders to monopolize and overprice agricultural inputs at the same time depress farmgate prices. There


is thus a yawning gap between retail and farm-gate prices, especially in Third World countries with heavy TNC concentration. The World Bank estimates that the gap costs exporting countries more than $100 billion each year.15

In fact, price speculation on food starts from these local conditions where trading monopo-lies (whether they are the landlords, middlemen, millers, loan sharks, TNCs or so-called govern-ment agencies that are controlled by the ruling elite) dictate prices and do unscrupulous trading practices such as hoarding, rumour-mongering, transfer pricing, profiteering, etc.

These basic problems have been intensified over time by globalization policies. It must be remem-bered that there are two sides to the global food crisis: chronic backwardness and low productiv-ity in the Third World and the crisis of overpro-duction in the First World, which is being passed on to the Third World through political offensives such as globalization policies. TNCs based in the First World are lobbying international finan-cial institutions (IFIs) and multilateral organiza-tions and pressuring Third World governments to implement globalization policies. The idea is to allow the TNCs to dump the surplus products and pass on the crisis to poor countries in order for TNCs to maintain their rates of profits.

In food and agriculture, these globalization poli-cies include liberalization of trade and invest-ment in agriculture, privatization of public or-gans in agricultural extension services such as irrigation, trading and the like, and deregulation of government roles in pricing, marketing and even land reforms. It is unspoken, especially if the discourse is dominated by multilateral orga-nizations and IFIs, that the current state of the global food crisis is the unequivocal and cumu-lative impact of globalization on otherwise back-ward Third World agriculture.

Globalization first came in the scheme of the Green Revolution in the 1970s (not counting prior colonial and semi-colonial arrangements), where Third World countries were told to use high-yield varieties (HYVs) to increase produc-tivity, which turned out to be ‘high-input varieties’ since they increased the farmers’ usage of pes-ticides and fertilizers peddled by agro-chemical TNCs. The Green Revolution was a World Bank agricultural program that came with a credit pro-

gram to enable farmers to purchase the expen-sive inputs.

The Green Revolution was a World Bank fi-asco. At the end of the programs implemented across the Third World, productivity was indeed increased but sustainability was placed under serious question, especially with degraded soil fertility and ecology that came as a result of un-bridled use of chemicals in agriculture. In the end, profits of agrochemical TNCs such as Mon-santo, Bayer and Sygenta soared while Third World farmers were pushed deeper to debt and bankruptcy. The higher productivity could not even be translated to food security for the direct producers.

At the start of the 1980s, at the onset of the global debt crisis, the IMF and the World Bank implemented heavy restructuring of economies and agricultures through structural adjustment programs (SAP) that debtor-countries should implement under IMF-World Bank supervision. The SAP embodied the policies of liberalization, privatization, deregulation, management of gov-ernment finances, and export-orientation. It was packaged by the IMF-World Bank as panacea to the financial woes of debtor-countries since the SAP was meant for debtor-countries to earn and save much-needed dollars and government rev-enues. In reality, however, the SAP was simply meant to blast open markets, key and traditional economic sectors including agriculture, and so-cial services to TNC products and capital. Particular to food and agriculture sectors of the debtor-countries, tariffs were reduced and im-ports were liberalized under progressive IMF programs. Thus aside from inputs and machin-ery being imported free of custom duties, im-ported foodstuff and agricultural products were also allowed to enter economies freely even if such economies could otherwise produce the food and agricultural products sufficiently. Food imports, since they were produced in efficient manner and heavily subsidized by the govern-ments of developed countries, turned out a lot cheaper than their locally produced counterpart, directly competing with backward therefore ex-pensive local production. Aside from imports being liberalized, foreign di-rect investments (FDI) were also allowed in ag-riculture. A favourite destination was the produc-


tion of high-value crops (HVCs) or export crops, which effectively elbowed out the production of food crops, threatened anew the sustainable use of land and water resources, and disenfran-chised farmers. Liberalization of foreign capital also promoted corporate farms or corporate takeover of plantations as being ‘more efficient’, which introduced various schemes such as joint ventures (TNCs and governments) and contract growing arrangements (TNCs and farmers), which in turn prioritized economic viability (read: rates of profits) rather than food needs. Unlike the Green Revolution that allowed indirect TNC control in agriculture (i.e. control in the form of inputs), investment liberalization allowed direct TNC control in agriculture (i.e. control in produc-tion).

Irrigation was privatized or imposed with user-fees. Food stocking and food trading parastatals were privatized or budgets for these were re-duced and their powers clipped. Agricultural extension services and food chains were also passed on to the private sector or closed down altogether as governments were told to save revenues for debt servicing. Even research and development (R&D) on food production was turned over to TNC-run international institu-tions.

Consequently, Third World governments were dictated to reduce their functions in land dis-tribution, providing production and price subsi-dies to farmers, providing access to resources, providing access to credit and capital, trading, pricing, and market distribution. Traditional state organs in importation, exports, banking, or even retail stores, were deregulated and eventually turned over to the private traders.

By the mid-1990s, Third World agriculture and food production was already in a deeper quan-dary. Farmers’ bankruptcy was widespread, productivity was at all-time low, and prices were increasing in the local markets yet remained depressed in the global market. Meanwhile, the crisis of overproduction in the First World, the main factor why advanced capitalist coun-tries and their TNCs push for greater globaliza-tion was being accentuated by ‘paper profits’ by speculation, stock market bubbles, across-the-board financial crises, unjustifiable investments, war expenses, etc. It was time to re-package the offensive on Third World economies from “SAP”

to “globalization”.

From the 1990s to 2000s, globalization has been primarily implemented through the mechanisms of the WTO. There are unsuccessful attempts to include FDI liberalization in the WTO, and this remains one of the most contentious issues, but FDI liberalization has also been aggressively pursued nonetheless even outside a multilateral trade body. Meanwhile, IFIs have also comple-mented the WTO by requiring countries to re-duce their tariffs and subsidies further, remove barriers to FDI, and complete privatization and deregulation, as conditionalities to IFI loans.

In agriculture, the WTO-Agreement on Agricul-ture (AoA) required the reduction and eventual elimination of tariffs on agricultural products, do-mestic support, and export subsidy. When the WTO-AoA came into force, some of the Third World governments had already gone through various degrees of tariff and subsidy reduction, but WTO implementation was still a big blow to the Third World. Third World governments, whether or not they were prepared for opening up their otherwise traditional non-commercial agri-culture to competition, whether or not they were still staggering from the impact of SAP, whether or not they needed to import, were compelled to import agricultural and food products and stop supporting their farmers and exporters.

On the other hand, FDI was also aggressively liberalized in natural resources and extractive industries such as mining, water resources, for-estry, and oil and gas exploration, which would directly compete with resources for agricultural and food production. Between 1990 and 2004, FDI in extractives industries in the Third World increased six times (from US$23.7 billion in 1990 to US$151.6 billion in 2004), with the rapid increase between 2000 and 2004.16

Meanwhile, the IFIs, despite the SAP debacles in the 1980s, continued attaching globalization policies to their agricultural lending, sometimes even facilitating the stringent WTO rules. By this period, so-called aid in the form of official devel-opment assistance (ODA) was becoming a ma-jor form of lending with conditionalities related to investment liberalization in natural resources, water privatization, promotion of HVCs, facilita-tion of private infrastructure, provision of tech-nical assistance to make the country ready for


free trade, so-called food security programs (read: importation), etc, etc. Globalization has been rapid and its impact, tre-mendous, which leaves no wonder why even current WTO negotiations for further globaliza-tion have reached a standoff (which may also be a concrete cause for panicky price speculation by TNCs and traders). Yet, even with the stalled WTO talks, advanced capitalist countries led by the US, EU and Japan are aggressively pursu-ing bilateral trade and investment agreements (called bilaterals) with Third World governments to ensure that liberalization of trade as well as investment continues unhampered even with their major differences within the WTO. A rapid increase in the number of bilaterals has been noted in recent years, which is only an indica-tion of the ferocity of TNCs to pass on their crisis to the Third World. It is also noted that agricul-tural and food imports and foreign investments in agriculture and natural resources are among the sectors being liberalized through the bilater-als.

The overall impact of globalization on Third World agriculture and food production has been severe. After 30 years of IFI policies and more than 10 years of the WTO, 105 of 149 Third World countries have become net food import-ers, the number of rural poor (at US$1 a day) has remained at 2.6 billion, and small farmers now comprise 80% of the world’s 845 million hungry.17

Globalization has expedited the erosion of the natural economy and self-sufficiency of the Third World, increased their food import bills, de-na-tionalized their industries, and de-industrialized their countries. It has resulted in a continuously shrinking local production in Third World agricul-ture and consequently renewed landlord efforts to remain profitable through land use or crop conversions and land re-concentration.

For the farmers and consumers, globalization, especially under the WTO regime, has been mainly responsibly for increasing bankruptcy and worsening poverty and hunger. As already mentioned, Third World countries used to de-rive their food security from traditional non-com-mercial agriculture, which the WTO had vastly threatened. The shift from subsistence farming to a market and wage economy through trade

liberalization has marginalized the farmers and left the people less able to afford food due to declining incomes, low wages and loss of liveli-hood.

Withdrawal of subsidy has also left consumers helpless in the supply-consumption networks that are now lorded over by private traders and corporations. Third World governments had tra-ditionally played a significant role in food distri-bution by intervening in marketing, subsidizing prices that benefited both farmers and consum-ers. This would typically be maize in Africa and rice in Asia. This would go on for most devel-oping countries until the SAP, but is gone now since the WTO has already banned such mech-anisms. Even social services in general are diminishing due to government indebtedness, bankruptcy and inability to provide.

dumping and speculation

One of the main issues that globalization has institutionalized and has had a direct bearing on the shrinking local production is dumping. It must be remembered that under so-called free trade in the WTO, developed countries, the US and the EU particularly, have ironically main-tained their high tariffs and subsidies and effec-tively preserved their protectionism. Their levels of support to their producers have even reached historic highs despite WTO rule to eliminate do-mestic and export subsidies, thereby allowing their firms to export at a price lower than do-mestic prices. (This has also been the main rea-son for the US achieving the ironic feat of being dominant in global trade of certain food types, rice for instance, when it is not absolutely the top producer of such food types.)

The US continues to provide domestic support to its producers of cotton, wheat, corn, soy-beans, rice, barley, oats and sorghum while the EU gives export subsidies to its producers of dairy products, meat products, cereals and sugar. The E.U. is by far the largest provider of export subsidies while the US is the largest pro-vider of export credits, or loans provided to ef-fect agricultural exportation.18

Subsidies and high tariff walls have resulted in artificially high farm production levels that allow producers to dump their surplus in other coun-tries at less than their production cost. Overall,


according to the U.S. Department of Agricul-ture, market distortions in agriculture are 52% caused by tariffs, 13% by export subsidies and 31% by domestic support, largely by the US and the EU. This unfair trade practice has distorted the international food markets as well as ruined local markets.

The U.S. is a heavy dumper of wheat, soy-beans, maize, cotton and rice while the E.U. dumps sugar, beef and together with the U.K., wheat. The consequences on Third World local production have been severe since these are agricultural and food products that Third World countries produce sufficiently for domestic con-sumption or export to earn revenues.19

Dumping has been directly responsible for the continued erosion of self-sufficiency. The main reason in turn for the proliferation of unbridled price speculation on food. As already mentioned, local conditions in Third World agriculture were already paving the way for monopoly pricing and speculation even before the WTO institutional-ized dumping. But since dumping, along with deregulation and privatization, has turned local conditions from worse to worst, trading cartels and speculators, both local and TNCs, have tak-en advantage of the worsening local conditions to control food supply and dictate prices. This in turn has increased the already high produc-tion costs since trading cartels and TNCs also control the trade of imported seeds, fertilizers and pesticides.

Speculation is being done on the declining local productivity and on where the declining ending stocks would stop at the end of a given period, and prices behave according to speculation. In short, since production outputs are getting more and more unpredictable and markets, more vul-nerable, and since governments have given up their regulatory functions, trading monopolies have turned to speculation to rake in huge ‘pa-per profits’.

In the First World, on the other hand, the inten-sity of the capitalist crisis has led to financial deregulation that has allowed fund investors to speculate on commodities futures. In 1989, the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) deregulated commodity purchases in-volving financial intermediaries (typically banks) and the dealers. In 1990, the CFTC considered

oil trading as “forward contracts” rather than “fu-tures contracts”, in short, it deregulated oil fu-tures trading.20

In 1991, from energy markets, institutional in-vestors started diversifying into food. For almost 75 years, the CFTC had imposed limits on how much of certain agricultural commodities, in-cluding wheat, cotton, soybean, soybean meal, corn, and oats, could be traded by non-commer-cial players, i.e. investors who were not part of the food industry. But starting in 1991, also with US Congress legislation in 1992 and further re-visions of CFTC rules in 2000, pension funds in-creasingly turned to food commodity markets.21

In 2005, the CFTC expanded trading limits on the amount of wheat, corn, oats and soybeans that traders could buy or sell at any one time on the futures markets. In 2006, Deutsche Bank (and an undisclosed fund) asked to be exempt-ed from all trading limits, and they were assured that there would be no penalties for exceeding the limits.

From 2000 to 2007, the price of wheat increased 147% on the Chicago Board of Trade. Over the same period, the price of corn increased 79% and soybeans, 72%. In 2007, in particular, the price movements have been dramatic, which has all the more inspired speculators to demand further deregulation.

Price speculation is not new and is in fact one of the hallmarks of capitalist exploitation. But what is unspeakable this time is that the commodity that is being subjected to speculation is none other than food. Billions of dollars are being poured in as hot money into food commodities to escape sliding stock markets and the credit crunch. Based on estimates, investment funds now control up to 60% of the wheat traded on the world’s biggest commodity markets. Ac-cording to the Globe and Mail, a Toronto-based publication, the amount of speculative money in commodities futures, markets where investors do not buy or sell a physical commodity, like rice or wheat, but merely bet on price movements has ballooned from US$5 billion in 2000 to US$175 billion to 2007.22 23 24

Exceptional inflows of speculative investment in commodity futures, which according to expert estimates reached as much as $1billion a day


during February and March 2008, have made prices more volatile and divorced prices from the realities of production.25

Speculative investment in commodity indexes has climbed from $13 billion in 2003 to a stag-gering $260-billion in March 2008. According to Michael Masters, a veteran U.S. hedge fund manager, this amount could easily reach $1 tril-lion, and since international agricultural markets are small compared to stock markets, these funds could easily have a substantial clout in the markets. He estimates that these big fund in-vestors control enough wheat futures to supply the needs of American consumers for the next two years and blames these speculators for the recent hyperinflation of food.26

In sum, there should be enough food for the entire globe, but productivity is not reaching its current potentials due to backwardness and domination of monopolies in production and trade. Monopo-lies, which have pushed for the globalization of food production and trade for more profits. Glo-balization has eroded local production and self-sufficiency and increased speculation on food commodities. It is in sum the culprit for the ‘food shortages’, steep increases in food prices, and the ensuing widespread social unrest.

Feeding TNC profits

Food and agricultural TNCs, speculators, pro-ducers, traders and retailers alike have ben-efited immensely from the conditions of crisis and the onslaught of globalization. Their clout and monopoly position has given them all the advantage to profit from volatile markets; in fact they can even create conditions of volatil-ity in order to influence prices and rake in huge returns on the cost of money. Greg Page, the chief executive officer of Cargill, the world’s number one agribusiness TNC, citing increas-ing demand and increasing investment mon-ies into commodity markets, has put it so well: “Prices are setting new highs and markets are extraordinarily volatile. In this environment, Car-gill’s team has done an exceptional job measur-ing and assessing price risk, and managing the large volume of grains, oilseeds and other com-modities moving through our supply chains for customers globally.” Cargill’s profits from com-modity trading alone have increased by 86% in the first quarter of 2008 compared to the same

period in 2007.27

Food processing and trading giant Archer Dan-iels Midland (ADM), the world’s second larg-est grain trader after Cargill, has reported a near-700% increase in the first quarter of 2008 in the profits of its agriculture services division, which includes the grain-trading, grain-trans-porting and grain-handling businesses.28 29

Table 5 is compiled by GRAIN, which shows how much the world’s largest grain traders are gaining despite so-called market volatility, tight supply and declining stocks, an ironic feat that is only achieved through monopolistic activities.

Table 5Profit increases for some of the world’s largest grain tradersCompany Profit 2007

(US$ million)Increase from

2006 (%)Cargill (US) 2,340 36%ADM (US) 2,200 67%ConAgra (US) 764 30%Bunge (US) 738 49%Noble Group (Singapore) 258 92%Marubeni (Japan) 90* 43%

Source: Compiled from corporate reports by GRAIN, op.cit.

*Data is for Marubeni’s Agri-Marine division only.Absent from this list is Louis Dreyfus (France), a private agricultural commodities trader with annual sales in excess of US$22 billion, which does not report its profits.

Only five companies control 90% of the global grain trade.30 In rice, for instance, one of the three major US cooperatives, Riceland Foods, currently sells almost three times the entire production of all five countries in Central America, owns the biggest rice mill in the world, and exports one in every eight sacks of US rice to 75 countries. Its exports increased by half and its profits by $123 million when Haiti was told by the IMF to reduce rice tariffs.

Global rice trade is dominated by only around 10 trading companies. Among these are major players, which are influential in shaping US policy. ADM (US) is worth US$16 billion; Louis Dreyfus (France) is one of the largest traders of grains and oilseeds in the world and sources


rice in the US and Asia and exports to the Middle East, Africa, and Eastern Europe.31

ADM, Cargill and Zen Noh handle over 80% of US corn exports. Only four companies including Cargill and Tyson control 81% of US beef packing industry.32

The dairy market is controlled by a handful of TNCs, with Nestle overwhelmingly dominating the scene, garnering $17.5 billion in sales in 2004. Out of 15 market leaders that year, only 7 had global operations. (See Table 6)

The truth is the production, processing, marketing and distribution of food and agricultural inputs are controlled by only few TNCs that dominate one or several of the stages. (See Table 7)

They own corporate farms in the Third World, manufacturing franchises, trading license-holders and affiliate offices all round the globe. Aside from Cargill and ADM, these TNCs include Nestlé (#1 food company in the world), Philip Morris (#2; it owns Kraft and General Foods and bought Nabisco in 2000), Aventis, Conagra (meat products, popcorn, etc.), Coca-Cola, John Deere (farm equipment), Dole (fruits), General

Mills, McDonald’s, Mitsui, Monsanto, Novartis, Syngenta, Tyson Foods (world’s largest poultry company), and Unilever (it bought Slim-Fast and Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream in 2000). Most of these are headquartered in the US. They have the most to say what foods and crops are produced, how they are produced, processed and distributed, and what prices they will command.33

Fortune 500 (US’s top 500 corporations compiled by Fortune Magazine) includes more than 100 food, beverage, agrochemical, food service and farm equipment corporations, as well as others, such as Wal-Mart, that produce or sell food and agricultural products as part of their operations. Wal-Mart in fact has recently admitted that food is the main reason for the big jump in its profits in recent years. (Wal-Mart was 2002 Fortune 500 number one TNC with total combined revenues of more than $1.1 trillion, one-seventh of the 500’s total revenues. The list did not include Cargill or Mars, each owned by one family and not traded on any stock exchange.)34 35

Over time, TNC monopoly has even been marked by increasing number of mergers and acquisitions among themselves, making the global economy narrower than ever. For instance,

Table 6Global dairy market leaders, 2004Company Country sales Geographic presence

U.S. dollars (billions)

Nestlé Switzerland 17.5 GlobalDean Foods United States 7.6 U.S.Danone (Dannon) France 7.4 GlobalDairy Farmers of America United States 7.3 U.S.Fonterra New Zealand 7.3 GlobalArla Foods Denmark/Sweden 6.7 Europe/Middle EastLactalis France 6.5 Europe/North America/Middle EastUnilever Netherlands/United Kingdom 6.2 GlobalKraft Foods United States 5.5 GlobalParmalat Italy 5.3 GlobalRoyal Friesland Foods Netherlands 5.3 Europe/Asia/Latin AmericaBongrain France 4.8 GlobalMeiji Dairies Japan 4.2 East AsiaCampina Netherlands 4.1 Europe, East Asia, South AmericaMorinaga Milk Japan 4.0 East Asia

Source: Prepared by USDA, Economic Research Service using data from Euromonitor International


Tyson Foods purchased Hudson Foods in 2001. Smithfield Products bought Murphy Farms, Tyson Foods’ hog operations, and two other large pork operations, and is now the world’s largest hog producer and pork processor. Kellogg, the world’s second largest marketer of packaged cereals, sold its bagel division and bought Worthington Foods, an Ohio firm specializing in meatless sausages and hotdogs. General Mills acquired Pillsbury for $10 billion. Unilever became the world’s largest ice-cream producer by buying Kibon, a Brazilian corporation. BASF (Germany) became the world’s fourth largest agricultural company by purchasing American Home Products’ agricultural chemical unit.

Table 7agri Food Chain

The AgrIfood ChAIn

geneSSeedSChemICAl InpUTS

food And fIBreTrAdIngrAW proCeSSIng

fUrTher proCeSSIngmAnUfACTUrIng SUpermArkeTS

Leading TNCs

SyngentaMonsantoDuPontBayer

ADMLouis DreyfusBungeCargill

NestléKraft FoodsUnileverPepsiCo

Wal-MartCarrefourMetroTesco

Core Activities seed and agrochemical production

trading and primary processing of raw materials

processing food and beverages food retailing

Source: Action Aid International

Supermarkets and food retailers are also very much concentrated and integrated into production and processing, which according to some agricultural analysts, is a “deadly combination”. Kroger bought Fred Meyer to become the world’s largest supermarket,ahead of American Stores, which acquired Albertson’s, Safeway, which absorbed two smaller chains, and Ahold, a Dutch firm that bought Giant Foods and owns some regional chains. Wal-Mart, not really known as a food store, jumped into fourth place by moving into grocery sales and purchasing the United Kingdom’s third largest supermarket chain, ASDA Group. The successful growth of discount chains like Wal-Mart and Costco also pushed the merger of other supermarkets, like Food Lion with Hannaford Brothers. Several European chains (Sainsbury and Marks and Spencer) are also flourishing in Europe, North Africa, Asia and North America.36 In 2007, due to its food sales, Wal-Mart jumped to number one, earning $312.40 billion in sales, with Carrefour of France a distant second. (See Annex 24)

Seeds and inputs producers and traders have also been concentrated and well-integrated into the whole food chain, benefiting tremendously from their historical monopoly position. US and EU-based agrochemical TNCs such as Monsanto, DuPont, Syngenta, Bayer, BASF and Dow monopolize the inputs market. In 2006, Monsanto, DuPont and Syngenta accounted for 39% of the commercial seed market while Bayer, Syngenta and BASF accounted for 46% of the pesticide market. (See Table 8) (Only two years ago, the top 10 seed companies accounted for 49% of the commercial seed market. Ten years ago, the top 10 seed companies accounted for 37% and Monsanto was not even on the list.)37

Monsanto alone controls 41% of the global seed market for corn; 25% for soybeans; 31% for beans; 38% for cucumber; 34% for hot pepper; 29% for sweet pepper; 23% for tomato; and 25% for onions.38

It accounts for 65% of the total area planted to genetically modified (GM) seeds. It controlled 91% of global GM soybean area of 119.5 million acres in 2004; 97% of GM maize area of 47.7 million acres; 63.5% of GM cotton area of 22.2 million acres; and 59% of GM canola area of 10.6 million acres. Radical breakthroughs in biotechnology have integrated the agrochemical industries and consolidated them with the entire food chain; the potential of the market has been huge, with the sales of seed companies increasing tremendously and the cost of seeds, fertilizers and agricultural chemicals almost doubling in 10 years.39 40

Illustrative of the degree of concentration is how these agrochemical TNCs have shifted equities and industry sub-sectors just to ensure

> > >


Table 8World’s Top Seed and Agrochemical TNCs

Top seed Companies2006 seed

sales(Us $ M)

Top pesticide Companiesagrochemical

sales(2004 Us $M)

% in pesticide

Market

1. Monsanto (US) 4,476 1. Bayer (Germany) 6,120 17.0

2. Dupont (US) 2,781 2. Syngenta (Switzerland) 6,030 17.0

3. Syngenta (Switzerland) 1,743 3. BASF (Germany) 4,141 12.0

4. Groupe Limagrain (France) 1,035 4. Dow (USA) 3,368 10.0

5. Land O’ Lakes (US) 756 5. Monsanto (USA) 3,180 9.0

6. KWS AG (Germany) 615 6. Dupont (USA) 2,211 6.0

7. Bayer Crop Science (Germany) 430 7. Koor23 (Israel) 1,358 4.0

8. Takii (Japan) estimate* 418 8. Sumitomo (Japan) 1,308 4.0

9. Sakata (Japan) 401 9. Nufarm (Australia) 1,060 3.0

10. DLF-Trifolium (Denmark) 352 10. Arysta (Japan) 790 2.0*Takii is a private seed company based in Japan that specializes in vegetable seeds. The company is not required to disclose annual seed revenues. Based on available information, we estimate that Takii’s seed revenues were $425 million in 2006.

Source: ETC Group

Note: Based on 2006 revenues, the top 10 seed corporations account for $13,014 million or 57% of the commercial seed market worldwide.

The top 3 seed companies account for $9,000 million – or 39% of the commercial seed market worldwide. The top 4 seed companies account for 44% of the commercial seed market worldwide. The world’s largest seed company, Monsanto, accounts for 20% of the world’s commercial seed market.

the best commanding position. For instance, Monsanto bought DeKalb Genetics and Cargill’s foreign seed operation, bid for Delta and Pine Land, and later sold itself to the pharmaceutical company Pharmacia Upjohn, which later spun off the seed operations back to Monsanto, of which Pharmacia owns 85%. American Home Products, mainly dealing in over-the-counter pharmaceuticals, merged with Monsanto in 1998.41

Novartis was formed by the merger of the Swedish company Sandoz and the Swiss Ciba-Geigy and now with a stake in the French company, Roche. DuPont, on the other hand, combined with Pioneer-Hi-Bred and the Ralston/Purina soy protein unit, but without Conoco, which is three times its size, with more than 80 businesses consolidated into three divisions. The merger of Rhone-Poulenc (French) and Hoechst (German) into Aventis, then Bayer, also created the second largest pharmaceutical company and one of the largest sellers of agricultural products.42

On the other hand, traders, millers, landlords, the ruling elite and politicians in the importing Third World countries are also beneficiaries from globalization and the expansion of TNC activities. They pressure their governments to reduce tariffs, and by doing so reduce import costs but maintain selling prices. In exporting Third World countries, traders and landlords benefit by colluding with seeds, inputs, machinery and trading TNCs that have already taken over the various stages of food and agricultural sector. Local traders and landlords take over erstwhile state organs as their own private businesses and engage in unscrupulous trading activities and monopoly pricing. Even politicians and government officials have taken advantage of the liberalized environment by taking part in the private businesses or by commissioning (i.e. engaging in corruption activities) from IFI loans in food and agriculture.

Food and agricultural TNCs have undoubtedly dominated supply chains for food and agricultural products, from the seed to the supermarket.


Liberalization, privatization and deregulation have allowed them to increase their size, power and clout in the Third World and even allowed them to control consumers and deal directly with small farmers. Globalization has also allowed them to turn food into commodity futures for speculation and gain immensely from price hikes.

Yet, as though these were not enough, food and agricultural TNCs and fund managers still feel ‘threatened’ by issues such as climate change, population explosion and increasing demand of China and India, oil and energy crisis, including the threat of the biofuels rush (by China), and ‘protectionism’ by Asian rice-producing countries such as Vietnam, Thailand and India, which have imposed export quotas, bans, subsidies and minimum prices on their rice exports in order to protect their own food security and remain competitive. The space and time may not be enough for this article to expound on the mentioned issues, but suffice it to say that these issues are also brought about (or being brought up as issues) by TNC greed.

Thus, production conditions and declining stocks and the above-mentioned issues as causes are hyped to rake in super-profits from price speculation. The ensuing food hyperinflation and ‘food riots’ are further hyped to push for greater globalization. At the end of the day, behind all the hype, TNCs simply find the agricultural markets not wide enough and globalization, not ferocious enough.

The World Bank has immediately highlighted the need to conclude the Doha Development Agenda of the WTO and break the impasse in the WTO talks.43 The IMF on the other hand has criticized the move by some Asian countries of withholding export shipments to protect their own markets, and has reiterated that market forces should be allowed to solve the problem.44 The FAO meanwhile cannot even commit to regulating financial markets even if it has made two perfunctory paragraphs in its briefing paper for the World Food Summit on June 3-5 in Rome on the influence of financial markets in pushing upwards the cost of food commodities. Regulating financial markets, it seems, is not a policy option for the FAO in the face of mass starvation.45 In short, acting on cue, IFIs and multilateral organizations have dictated the

discourse and analysis on the global food crisis, and that is, it can only be solved by further globalization.

People’s action still the solution

Based on one estimate, for every percentage point increase in the price of food, additional 16 million people would go hungry.46 Among the poorest countries, the World Bank estimates that a 100% increase in food prices in the next three years could push 100 million people into deeper poverty.47 Mass bankruptcies, farmers’ marginalization from productive resources, and starvation wages or wage freezes including declining social services in Africa, Asia and Latin America have already made even minimal price movements unacceptable and immoral for the poor majority.

But as a result of deregulation and withdrawal of domestic support, Third World governments are cash-strapped to respond to price hikes and food shortages and help their farmers recoup losses. This is aside from the fact that they would not dare veer away from the liberalization tack, i.e. they would not dare re-institute tariffs, impose import and trade restrictions, prioritize subsidies over debt servicing, or support agriculture instead of letting “market forces solve the problem”. Several Third World exporting countries have imposed restrictions on their exports in order to support local supplies and prices. Several importing countries, on the other hand, have resorted to panic buying in order to secure adequate inventories as response to speculation and regulation by the Third World exporting countries. The former have been criticized and pressured to rethink while the latter have been supported and encouraged by IFIs and multilateral organizations including food and agricultural TNCs. At any rate, responses by Third World governments have been generally to preserve the ‘gains’ of globalization and to heed the call of the IFIs and multilateral organizations.

The most common move has been to reduce or eliminate cereal import tariffs and food taxes and increase importation and procurement. In Africa, 11 out of 15 monitored countries have resorted to tariff reduction. In Ghana in particular the government has eliminated all import duties


on rice, wheat, yellow corn and vegetable oil by May 2008. In Asia, 7 out of 19 countries have eliminated or reduced import tariffs while 6 others have imposed export bans as already mentioned. Indonesia in particular has already removed its remaining 5% and 10% duties on wheat and soybean imports respectively. Likewise, in Latin America and the Caribbean, 9 out of 12 countries have undergone import tariff moves. Mexico for instance has removed tariffs on wheat, rice, maize and fertilizers. (See Annexes 25-28 and Table 9)

Food subsidies and additional spending for agricultural support have also been common. But most of these are not sustainable, token and minimal in scope, and would later come with a heavy price as most of the food subsidies and domestic support coming in are made possible by IFI lending and ODA borrowing. Likewise, price controls are not sustainable since they have only been made possible by suspending the IMF VAT imposition on foodstuff and oil, which the IMF is not so keen on removing and would be re-instated sooner than expected.

Ironically still, Third World governments, Asian in particular, are being pressured to complete the privatization of their food trading and stocking agencies and clip the powers of public associations in charge of importation and other trading regulations. They are also advised to increase agricultural productivity by funding (through foreign borrowing of course) the increased use of hybrid seeds (HYVs) and the elimination of tariffs on chemical inputs in order to support HYV plantations. The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) based in the Philippines, for instance, along with the ADB has been peddling the results of its experiments on hybrid seeds as solution to the global food crisis.

In short, Third World governments at best have only made token efforts to address the food crisis, and worse, have remained within the ambit of imperialist globalization and resorted to policies that continue to push farmers to deeper poverty and hunger, push their national economies to untold bankruptcies, and endanger food security.

The situation leaves no doubt that as before the solution only lies in the hands of the farmers,

peasants and toiling poor majority. The broadest alliances of peasants, agricultural workers, indigenous peoples, fisherfolk, workers, the urban poor, the rural poor, consumers, women, professionals, local and small entrepreneurs, the youth, and the broad citizenry must be organized to raise the level of debate and action on the global food crisis.

In the immediate, they must assert that governments utilize all means to control food prices, i.e. allocating budgets for increasing support prices (both for farmgate and retail prices) and production subsidies instead of prioritizing debt servicing. They must demand governments to take control and reverse the privatization of food agencies and strengthen them in order to protect the people from monopolistic activities by traders and TNCs. They should urge governments to urgently stop land use conversions and crop conversions that are happening in favour of foreign investors’ interests in corporate farms, large-scale mining, water privatization, natural resources extraction and the like, instead of marginalizing food production.

In the long-term, farmers and people’s organizations should relentlessly assert the attainment of genuine agrarian reform that is based on free distribution of land to the tillers and eradication of rent and usury. This unavoidably entails a lot more and sustained government support in irrigation, production, capital, post-harvest facilities, markets, and other social services. This also entails national programs that would promote self-sufficiency in food, agriculture and economy. This inevitably entails governments that would turn back from globalization policies and assert the people’s food sovereignty.

Stepping up efforts in education and mass mobilization is paramount, and farmers’ and people’s organizations should increase awareness of the nature of the crisis, strengthen protests against anti-people policies such as globalization, heighten the struggle for genuine agrarian reform, and relentlessly demand social accountability.

What have happened recently are not “food riots” as though they are mobs as often described by mainstream media. These are

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people’s protests against inutile governments. These are another culmination of long-term, organized and expanding struggles of farmers and citizens against the worsening impact of globalization on a very basic human right such as food. Given more time, or even sooner than expected, these protests would culminate in another yet bigger direct action. Only through

these similar direct actions that people’s food sovereignty is asserted, farmers are liberated from dirt poverty, and genuine national and economic development is achieved. As the saying goes, “Hungry people are angry people”. And the wrath is increasingly getting transformed into fair, legitimate, organized and monumental struggles.


ENDNOTES

1 2008: The year of global food crisis, Sunday Herald, March 8, 20082 Khor, Martin. Global Trends, The Star Online, April 14, 2008 3 The Sunday Herald, op.cit.4 Food Outlook, Global Market Analysis, Food and Agriculture Organization, November 20075 The cost of food: Facts and figures, BBC News (http://www.bbc.co.uk)6 Ibid.7 Dairy: World Markets and Trade, United States Department of Agriculture, Foreign Agricultural Service, Circular

Series, FD-2-07, Dec 2007, (http://www.usda.gov) 8 Livestock and Poultry: World Markets and Trade, United States Department of Agriculture, Foreign Agricultural

Service, Circular Series, DL&P-1-08, April 2008, (http://www.usda.gov)9 The State of Food and Agriculture 2007, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome, 200710 Ibid. p.12711 Making a killing from hunger, GRAIN, April 2008 (http://www.grain.org)12 Food Prices and Inflation in Developing Asia, Is Poverty Reduction Coming to an End? Special Report, Economics

and Research Department, Asian Development Bank, April 2008 13 Ibid.14 Food Outlook, FAO, November 2007, op.cit.15 “Power Hungry, Six Reasons to Regulate Global Food Corporations”, ActionAid International, n.d. (http://www.

actionaid.org)16 World Investment Report 2006, UNCTAD17 Balangue, Glenis. “2008 World Development Report: World Bank’s New Agriculture”, IBON Facts and Figures,

15-30 November 2007, IBON Foundation18 Guzman, RosB. The Implications of Dumping of Agricultural Products in Asia, Special Release, Pesticide Action

Network Asia Pacific, January 200719 Ibid.20 Financializing Food: Deregulation, Commodity Markets and the Rising Cost of Food (http://www.iufdocuments.

org)21 Sinclair Stewart And Paul Waldie, “Feeding Frenzy”, Globe and Mail, Toronto, 31 May 2008, (http://www.

globeandmail.com)22 GRAIN, op.cit.23 Sinclair Stewart and Paul Waldie, “U.S. food producers, speculators square off”, Globe and Mail, Toronto, 23

April 2008, (http://www.theglobeandmail.com)24 Sinclair Stewart and Paul Waldie, “Why grocery prices are set to soar”, Globe and Mail, Toronto, 24 April 2008,

(http://www.theglobeandmail.com)25 Who’s profiting from rising food prices? asks ActionAid (http://www.actionaid.org) 26 Financializing Food: Deregulation, Commodity Markets and the Rising Cost of Food, op. cit. 27 GRAIN, loc.cit.28 ActionAid, op.cit.29 “Kicking Down the Door, How Upcoming WTO Talks Threaten Farmers in Poor Countries”, Oxfam Briefing Paper

72, April 200530 “Power Hungry, Six Reasons to Regulate Global Food Corporations”, ActionAid International, n.d. (http://www.

actionaid.org)31 Ibid.32 Op.cit.33 Transnational Corporations and the Global Food System (Chapter 4), (http://www.agribusinessaccountability.

org)34 Ibid.35 GRAIN, op.cit.36 Transnational Corporations and the Global Food System (Chapter 4), pp. 94-95 (http://www.

agribusinessaccountability.org)


37 Top Seed and Agrochemical TNCs, ETC Group (http://www.etcgroup.org)38 Sape, Gilbert. Challenges of Neo-Liberal Structuring and TNC Control in Agriculture, Pesticide Action Network,

powerpoint presentation during the research training conducted by Asia Pacific Research Network, October 2005

39 Ibid.40 Guzman, Rosario Bella. How Agrochemical TNCs Benefit from the Globalization Process through AoA, TRIPS

and SPS, IBON Foundation, October 200341 Transnational Corporations and the Global Food System (Chapter 4), pp. 94-95 (http://www.

agribusinessaccountability.org)42 Ibid.43 Wroughton, Lesley, “Global response needed on food crisis – Zoellick”, Reuters, April 2, 200844 McManus, Bryan, “Food crisis moves up global agenda at IMF, WBank meets, Agence-France Presse, April 14,

200845 Financializing Food: Deregulation, Commodity Markets and the Rising Cost of Food, op.cit.46 Ibid.47 McManus, Agence-France Presse, op.cit.


abbreviaTions

adM archer daniel Midland adb asian development bank aoa agreement on agriculture CFTC Commodity Futures Trading Commission eU european Union Fao Food and agriculture organization Fdi Foreign direct investment GM Genetically Modified iFis international Finance institutions iMF international Monetary Fund irri international rice research institute hvCs high-value crops hyvs high-yielding varieties nGo non Government organisation ODA Official Development Assistance r&d research and development sap structural adjustment programs TnCs Transnational Corporations Un United nations Us United states vaT value added Tax WFp World Food programme WTo World Trade organization


anneXes


annex 1. World Wheat production, Consumption and stocks (in thousand MT) 2003/04 2004/05 2005/06 2006/07 2007/08 2008/09MayTotal production Argentina 14,500 16,000 14,500 15,200 15,500 15,000 Australia 26,132 21,905 25,173 10,641 13,100 24,000 Brazil 5,851 5,845 4,873 2,234 3,825 4,500 Canada 23,049 24,796 25,748 25,265 20,050 25,000 China Peoples Republic of 86,490 91,950 97,450 104,470 106,000 109,000 Egypt 6,443 7,177 8,184 8,274 8,275 8,300 EU-27 110,578 146,886 132,356 124,783 119,481 140,000 India 65,100 72,150 68,640 69,350 75,810 76,780 Iran 13,440 14,568 14,308 14,500 15,000 12,000 Kazakhstan Republic of 11,000 9,950 11,000 13,500 16,600 14,000 Pakistan 19,183 19,500 21,612 21,277 23,300 21,500 Russian Federation 34,100 45,400 47,700 44,900 49,400 52,000 Turkey 16,800 18,500 18,500 17,500 15,500 16,500 Ukraine 3,600 17,500 18,700 14,000 13,900 20,000 Uzbekistan Republic of 5,400 5,250 5,800 5,850 6,200 6,000 Others 48,343 49,613 49,016 50,937 48,212 46,333 Subtotal 490,009 566,990 563,560 542,681 550,153 590,913 United States 63,814 58,738 57,280 49,316 56,247 65,100 World Total 553,823 625,728 620,840 591,997 606,400 656,013

2003/04 2004/05 2005/06 2006/07 2007/08 2008/09MayTotal Consumption Algeria 6,800 7,300 7,500 7,650 7,750 7,850 Brazil 9,800 10,200 10,800 10,500 10,500 10,550 Canada 7,186 8,232 8,319 8,738 8,500 7,700 China Peoples Republic of 104,500 102,000 101,000 101,000 102,500 104,000 Egypt 13,300 14,200 14,800 15,450 15,850 16,050 EU-27 115,095 123,220 127,525 125,500 118,965 129,000 India 68,258 72,838 69,971 73,358 75,850 78,100 Iran 14,550 14,550 14,800 15,300 15,500 15,600 Kazakhstan Republic of 6,800 7,400 7,400 7,500 7,500 7,500 Morocco 6,400 6,600 6,800 7,150 7,150 7,300 Pakistan 19,100 20,000 21,500 21,900 22,400 22,900 Russian Federation 35,500 37,400 38,400 36,400 38,200 39,000 Turkey 16,800 16,800 16,100 16,650 16,500 16,600 Ukraine 9,025 11,700 12,500 11,700 12,750 13,000 Uzbekistan Republic of 5,179 5,700 6,118 6,500 6,800 6,800 Others 110,024 115,585 123,127 120,755 121,572 122,547 Subtotal 556,106 575,119 592,823 584,412 590,538 607,370 United States 32,507 31,823 31,357 31,035 29,892 34,673 World Total 588,613 606,942 624,180 615,447 620,430 642,043


Annex 1. World Wheat Production, Consumption and Stocks (in thousand MT) (cont’d) 2003/04 2004/05 2005/06 2006/07 2007/08 2008/09Mayending stocks Australia 5,444 6,782 9,618 4,224 3,699 6,574 Canada 5,985 7,922 9,638 6,849 4,174 4,774 China Peoples Republic of 43,293 38,819 34,890 35,957 36,957 39,987 Egypt 1,744 2,861 4,006 4,120 4,035 4,075 EU-27 11,514 27,496 23,391 13,938 11,954 12,954 India 6,900 4,100 2,000 4,500 6,410 5,140 Russian Federation 2,645 3,891 3,809 2,380 2,580 4,080 Others 39,660 44,273 44,606 39,671 33,696 33,277 Subtotal 117,185 136,144 131,958 111,639 103,505 110,861 United States 14,872 14,699 15,545 12,414 6,518 13,132 World Total 132,057 150,843 147,503 124,053 110,023 123,993

Source: FAO


annex 2. World rice production Consumption and stocks (in thousand MT) 2003/04 2004/05 2005/06 2006/07 2007/08 2008/09MayMilled production Bangladesh 26,152 25,600 28,758 29,000 28,600 29,400 Brazil 8,709 8,996 7,874 7,700 8,129 8,500 Burma Union of 10,730 9,570 10,440 10,600 10,730 10,000 Cambodia 2,960 2,630 3,771 3,946 4,075 4,225 China Peoples Republic of 112,462 125,363 126,414 127,800 129,500 130,900 Egypt 3,900 4,128 4,135 4,383 4,385 4,387 India 88,530 83,130 91,790 93,350 95,680 96,000 Indonesia 35,024 34,830 34,959 35,300 35,500 36,250 Japan 7,091 7,944 8,257 7,786 7,930 7,900 Korea Republic of 4,451 5,000 4,768 4,680 4,408 4,500 Nigeria 2,200 2,300 2,700 2,900 3,000 3,100 Pakistan 4,848 5,025 5,547 5,200 5,500 5,600 Philippines 9,200 9,425 9,821 10,085 10,600 10,800 Thailand 18,011 17,360 18,200 18,250 18,500 18,800 Vietnam 22,082 22,716 22,772 22,922 23,543 23,560 Others 28,743 29,389 30,834 30,455 30,675 31,823 Subtotal 385,093 393,406 411,040 414,357 420,755 425,745 United States 6,420 7,462 7,113 6,239 6,314 6,300 World Total Production 391,513 400,868 418,153 420,596 427,069 432,045

2003/04 2004/05 2005/06 2006/07 2007/08 2008/09MayTotal Consumption Bangladesh 26,700 26,900 29,000 29,764 30,200 30,300 Brazil 9,325 9,074 8,452 7,965 8,429 8,710 Burma Union of 10,200 10,300 10,400 10,670 10,331 10,000 Cambodia 2,725 2,780 3,571 3,646 3,775 3,825 China Peoples Republic of 132,100 130,300 128,000 127,800 127,000 128,000 Egypt 3,225 3,250 3,343 3,268 3,385 3,350 India 85,630 80,861 85,088 86,940 91,610 93,000 Indonesia 36,000 35,850 35,739 35,900 36,350 36,851 Iran 2,950 3,000 3,025 3,050 3,075 3,100 Japan 8,357 8,300 8,250 8,250 8,150 8,130 Korea Republic of 4,512 4,951 4,766 4,886 4,635 4,540 Nigeria 4,000 4,250 4,350 4,450 4,700 4,800 Philippines 10,250 10,400 10,722 11,551 12,400 12,650 Thailand 9,470 9,480 9,544 9,870 9,967 9,700 Vietnam 18,230 17,595 18,392 18,775 19,717 19,380 Others 43,935 44,888 44,982 46,337 45,292 46,154 Subtotal 410,000 404,926 411,785 416,396 420,406 423,950 United States 3,656 3,935 3,838 4,054 3,990 4,024 World Total Consumption 413,656 408,861 415,623 420,450 424,396 427,974


Annex 2. World Rice Production Consumption and Stocks (in thousand MT) (cont’d) 2003/04 2004/05 2005/06 2006/07 2007/08 2008/09Mayending stocks China Peoples Republic of 43,915 38,931 36,783 35,915 37,715 39,845 India 10,800 8,500 10,520 11,430 13,000 14,000 Indonesia 4,018 3,448 3,207 4,607 4,857 5,056 Japan 1,700 1,919 2,395 2,406 2,686 2,956 Philippines 4,047 4,572 5,293 5,627 5,827 5,977 Thailand 1,706 2,312 3,594 2,479 2,019 2,127 Vietnam 1,025 1,292 1,317 1,392 1,268 1,398 Others 13,180 10,974 11,210 10,713 10,445 10,673 Subtotal 80,391 71,948 74,319 74,569 77,817 82,032 United States 761 1,211 1,370 1,266 691 547 World Total 81,152 73,159 75,689 75,835 78,508 82,579

Source: FAO


annex 3. World Corn production Consumption and stocks (in thousand MT) 2003/04 2004/05 2005/06 2006/07 2007/08 2008/09Mayproduction Argentina 15,000 20,500 15,800 22,500 21,500 23,500 Brazil 42,000 35,000 41,700 51,000 56,000 57,000 Canada 9,587 8,837 9,361 8,990 11,650 10,000 China Peoples Republic of 115,830 130,290 139,365 145,480 145,000 150,000 Egypt 5,740 5,840 5,932 6,149 6,174 6,175 EU-27 47,905 66,471 61,158 54,720 48,393 56,122 India 14,980 14,180 14,710 15,100 18,540 17,500 Indonesia 6,350 7,200 6,500 6,700 7,500 7,750 Mexico 21,800 22,050 19,500 22,350 22,500 23,000 Nigeria 5,500 6,500 7,000 7,800 6,500 7,800 Philippines 4,900 5,050 5,884 6,231 6,500 6,600 Russian Federation 2,100 3,500 3,200 3,600 3,950 5,300 Serbia nr nr nr 6,415 4,054 6,500 South Africa Republic of 9,700 11,716 6,935 7,300 11,500 11,500 Ukraine 6,850 8,800 7,150 6,400 7,400 8,000 Others 62,865 69,539 72,133 68,367 70,574 72,820 Subtotal 371,107 415,473 416,328 439,102 447,735 469,567 United States 256,278 299,914 282,311 267,598 332,092 307,989 World Total Production 627,385 715,387 698,639 706,700 779,827 777,556

2003/04 2004/05 2005/06 2006/07 2007/08 2008/09MayTotal Consumption Argentina 4,400 5,200 6,200 6,700 6,700 6,900 Brazil 36,300 38,500 39,500 41,000 42,500 45,000 Canada 11,215 10,311 10,837 11,436 12,900 12,600 China Peoples Republic of 128,400 131,000 137,000 143,000 146,000 150,000 Egypt 9,200 11,300 10,100 10,700 10,400 10,600 EU-27 55,764 63,200 61,500 62,300 61,800 60,200 India 13,500 13,900 14,200 14,700 16,500 16,200 Indonesia 7,350 7,900 7,900 7,900 8,100 8,200 Japan 17,200 16,500 16,700 16,500 16,400 16,100 Korea Republic of 8,722 8,666 8,579 8,833 8,900 9,100 Mexico 26,400 27,900 27,900 30,700 32,000 33,000 Nigeria 5,500 6,300 6,800 7,600 6,550 7,700 Philippines 4,950 5,150 5,800 6,300 6,600 7,000 South Africa Republic of 8,677 9,700 8,200 8,400 8,700 9,000 Ukraine 5,600 6,000 5,100 5,250 5,700 5,900 Others 93,247 101,653 105,747 111,215 114,070 118,332 Subtotal 437,308 464,147 473,576 494,944 508,637 517,438 United States 211,644 224,648 232,063 230,786 266,966 270,777 World Total Consumption 648,952 688,795 705,639 725,730 775,603 788,215


Annex 3. World Corn Production Consumption and Stocks (in thousand MT) (cont’d) 2003/04 2004/05 2005/06 2006/07 2007/08 2008/09Mayending stocks Argentina 220 956 1,156 1,657 1,457 1,857 Brazil 7,878 4,192 3,015 3,579 6,829 10,029 China Peoples Republic of 44,852 36,555 35,255 32,482 31,082 30,682 EU-27 3,046 8,108 9,951 8,763 8,006 9,928 Iran 1,168 1,552 1,647 2,247 2,347 2,047 Mexico 4,461 4,529 2,707 3,084 3,184 3,584 South Africa Republic of 2,956 3,190 2,308 1,908 2,808 3,008 Others 15,983 18,714 18,486 18,629 18,856 18,524 Subtotal 80,564 77,796 74,525 72,349 74,569 79,659 United States 24,337 53,697 49,968 33,114 35,118 19,369 World Total 104,901 131,493 124,493 105,463 109,687 99,028

Source: FAO


annex 4. World Coarse Grains production Consumption and stocks (in thousand MT) 2003/04 2004/05 2005/06 2006/07 2007/08 2008/09Mayproduction Argentina 18,596 24,902 19,223 27,538 26,973 29,923 Australia 14,860 11,409 13,527 6,578 9,906 12,207 Brazil 44,881 37,874 44,167 53,184 58,444 59,859 Canada 25,839 25,602 24,968 23,145 27,840 25,020 China Peoples Republic of 123,953 138,252 147,696 153,503 153,600 158,500 Ethiopia 6,560 7,565 9,085 11,075 11,930 11,100 EU-27 131,714 166,579 146,758 138,336 137,630 149,449 India 37,420 33,560 34,040 32,540 38,210 35,400 Indonesia 6,350 7,200 6,500 6,700 7,500 7,750 Mexico 30,277 28,947 25,833 29,140 29,780 29,980 Nigeria 20,300 23,200 24,700 26,000 24,000 25,800 Russian Federation 30,500 29,600 27,600 30,200 29,325 31,600 South Africa Republic of 10,363 12,209 7,311 7,760 12,013 11,983 Turkey 10,040 11,045 11,945 10,945 10,045 10,645 Ukraine 15,600 23,000 18,140 19,175 14,585 19,670 Others 113,969 115,747 119,556 126,688 124,286 126,590 Subtotal 641,222 696,691 681,049 702,507 716,067 745,476 United States 275,098 319,417 298,763 280,113 351,062 325,159 World Total Production 916,320 1,016,108 979,812 982,620 1,067,129 1,070,635

2003/04 2004/05 2005/06 2006/07 2007/08 2008/09Maydomestic Consumption Argentina 7,407 9,058 9,373 10,023 10,273 10,923 Brazil 38,913 41,558 42,217 43,344 45,019 47,809 Canada 23,339 22,981 22,917 24,454 24,500 24,375 China Peoples Republic of 138,651 141,172 147,455 152,225 155,520 159,525 Egypt 10,277 12,364 11,201 11,835 11,480 11,670 Ethiopia 6,560 7,565 8,885 10,850 11,930 11,125 EU-27 145,237 152,589 147,541 147,708 152,357 148,170 India 35,650 33,240 33,800 32,120 36,130 34,100 Japan 20,737 19,878 20,092 19,820 19,492 19,312 Mexico 37,332 38,276 37,587 39,905 40,205 41,730 Nigeria 20,250 22,950 24,450 25,750 24,000 25,650 Russian Federation 33,250 29,400 27,700 28,600 29,050 29,450 South Africa Republic of 9,219 10,305 8,766 8,936 9,298 9,578 Turkey 11,186 11,504 11,452 11,650 11,350 11,350 Ukraine 14,000 15,200 11,990 13,375 12,515 13,420 Others 164,989 170,520 179,974 185,506 188,330 192,388 Subtotal 719,372 738,911 748,051 770,005 786,779 793,294 United States 225,958 240,216 245,075 242,812 280,193 285,072 World Total Consumption 945,330 979,127 993,126 1,012,817 1,066,972 1,078,366


Annex 4. World Coarse Grains Production Consumption and Stocks (in thousand MT) (cont’d) 2003/04 2004/05 2005/06 2006/07 2007/08 2008/09Mayending stocks Argentina 953 1,564 1,460 2,171 1,916 2,561 Brazil 8,045 4,380 3,167 3,701 6,961 10,166 Canada 4,076 6,319 6,281 3,486 3,521 3,241 China Peoples Republic of 45,481 37,017 35,808 32,829 31,389 31,139 EU-27 13,012 25,121 22,759 16,683 15,856 19,590 Mexico 5,767 5,395 3,336 3,375 3,675 3,975 South Africa Republic of 3,189 3,427 2,439 2,002 2,917 3,122 Others 32,050 36,295 34,987 34,386 30,348 30,215 Subtotal 112,573 119,518 110,237 98,633 96,583 104,009 United States 28,764 58,800 54,767 36,174 38,381 23,224 World Total 141,337 178,318 165,004 134,807 134,964 127,233

Source: FAO


annex 5. Major oilseeds: World supply and distribution (Country view) 2003/04 2004/05 2005/06 2006/07 apr 2007/08 May 2007/08productionUnited States 76.6 95.94 95.53 96.61 80.12 80Brazil 53.58 55.58 59.13 62.01 64.06 64.05China Peoples Republic of 51.31 58.35 56.8 59.09 54.32 54.63Argentina 36.84 43.43 45.03 53.16 52.31 52.34India 29.68 29.39 30.6 29.92 34.41 34.41Other 87.85 98.85 104.29 107.35 105.6 105.37 Total 335.85 381.53 391.38 408.14 390.83 390.8

2003/04 2004/05 2005/06 2006/07 apr 2007/08 May 2007/08importsChina Peoples Republic of 17.36 26.12 29 29.7 34.71 34.86EU-27 16.9 16 15.92 17.19 16.73 16.94Japan 7.27 6.83 6.54 6.55 6.57 6.62Mexico 5.33 5.11 5.48 5.47 5.79 5.69Argentina 0.57 0.69 0.6 2.02 2.42 2.42Taiwan 2.23 2.27 2.51 2.44 2.48 2.36Turkey 1.33 1.53 1.61 1.78 1.83 1.83Indonesia 1.19 1.28 1.42 1.51 1.57 1.57Thailand 1.45 1.56 1.52 1.58 1.69 1.54Korea Republic of 1.52 1.42 1.37 1.41 1.35 1.4Other 9 9.95 9.33 11.11 11.45 11.6 Total 64.13 72.74 75.29 80.76 86.58 86.81

2003/04 2004/05 2005/06 2006/07 apr 2007/08 May 2007/08exportsUnited States 25.16 30.71 26.61 31.68 30.61 31.12Brazil 20.58 20.24 25.99 23.65 27.18 26.67Argentina 7.04 10.08 7.83 10.17 12.24 12.28Canada 4.79 4.67 6.8 7.33 6.92 7.33Paraguay 2.78 2.91 2.52 4.06 4.68 4.48Ukraine 1.02 0.13 0.63 1.23 1.39 1.29China Peoples Republic of 1.24 1.57 1.28 1.47 1.12 1.12Other 4.41 4.14 4.37 3.56 3.95 4.21 Total 67.02 74.44 76.03 83.15 88.07 88.5


Annex 5. Major Oilseeds: World Supply and Distribution (Country View) (cont’d) 2003/04 2004/05 2005/06 2006/07 apr 2007/08 May 2007/08CrushChina Peoples Republic of 51.89 60.54 64.87 67.52 66.86 67.31United States 45.53 50.17 51.9 53.45 54.5 54.53Argentina 28.18 31.41 35.93 36.94 42.69 42.67EU-27 31.1 33.38 34.18 36.21 37.31 37.51Brazil 31.29 31.24 30.01 33.08 33.95 33.95India 23.45 23.55 25 24.62 27.93 27.93Russian Federation 4.41 5.15 6.51 7.16 6.56 6.46Indonesia 4.63 5.15 5.58 5.76 6.09 6.09Mexico 5.52 5.51 5.85 5.79 6.11 6Canada 4.92 4.61 4.91 4.93 5.15 5.25Japan 5.82 5.42 5.12 5.17 5.1 5.15Pakistan 3.99 5.41 5.08 5.51 5.07 5.07Malaysia 4.05 4.65 4.72 4.4 4.9 4.9Ukraine 3.32 3.34 4.98 5.39 4.46 4.56Turkey 2.8 2.87 2.83 3.14 2.9 2.9Other 28.2 30.31 30.98 32.17 31.57 31.42 Total 279.08 302.71 318.44 331.23 341.15 341.7

2003/04 2004/05 2005/06 2006/07 apr 2007/08 May 2007/08ending stocksArgentina 16.56 17.62 17.93 24.37 22.53 22.53Brazil 15.52 16.77 16.75 18.76 18.43 18.93United States 4.15 8.29 14.2 17.02 5.47 4.99China Peoples Republic of 2.1 4.7 4.47 3.12 2.82 2.82EU-27 1.83 3.14 3.24 3.38 2.89 2.56Other 4.58 6.54 7.63 6.37 5.07 4.89 Total 44.73 57.05 64.22 73.03 57.21 56.73

Source: FAO


annex 6. Total meat statistics1 (thousand tonnes, carcass weight equivalent)production imports exports Utilization

2006 estim.

2007f’cast

2006 estim.

2007f’cast

2006 estim.

2007f’cast

2006 estim.

2007f’cast

ASIA 116,531 116,575 8,170 8,883 2,350 2,390 122,351 123,068China 81,076 79,805 1,931 2,282 1,256 1,177 81,752 80,909

of which Hong Kong, SAR 225 207 929 1,011 188 186 965 1,032India 6,818 7,160 - - 472 504 6,346 6,656Indonesia 2,297 2,482 58 63 8 8 2,346 2,537Iran, Islamic Republic of 1,712 1,774 137 145 17 18 1,832 1,901Japan 3,092 3,112 2,465 2,421 2 2 5,555 5,532Korea, Republic of 1576 1,650 789 847 23 27 2,342 2,470Malaysia 1,215 1,229 248 267 16 17 1,447 1,479Pakistan 2,018 2,088 3 4 12 17 2,009 2,075Philippines 2,408 2,447 212 233 13 14 2,608 2,666Saudi Arabia 719 733 633 666 9 9 1,343 1,390Singapore 112 117 256 261 8 8 360 370Thailand 2,079 2,121 11 12 338 364 1,752 1,769Turkey 1,578 1,621 55 75 27 16 1,607 1,680Viet Nam 3,134 3,331 24 27 12 13 3,146 3,345

AfrICA 12,543 12,722 1,485 1,599 91 98 13,937 14,223Algeria 590 614 122 122 - - 712 736Angola 142 149 189 198 - - 331 347Egypt 1,532 1,486 248 261 2 2 1,778 1,745Nigeria 1,089 1,107 2 3 - - 1,091 1,110South Africa 1,932 1,953 325 330 19 22 2,238 2,261

CenTrAl AmerICA 7,741 7,888 2,038 2,113 188 209 9,591 9,792Cuba 197 201 153 175 - - 350 377Mexico 5,567 5,649 1,513 1,515 110 116 6,970 7,048

SoUTh AmerICA 34,455 35,929 580 641 6,789 7,237 28,246 29,332Argentina 4,627 4,980 33 38 622 661 4,038 4,357Brazil 22,048 22,871 39 38 5,195 5,692 16,892 17,217Chile 1,340 1,451 182 195 222 272 1,300 1,374Colombia 1,722 1,755 26 32 25 30 1,722 1,757Uruguay 674 643 21 23 494 406 202 260Venezuela 1,375 1,487 223 254 - - 1,598 1,741

norTh AmerICA 45,144 45,277 2,553 2,648 6,351 6,307 41,346 41,617Canada 4,473 4,444 505 556 1,526 1,553 3,452 3,447United States of America 40,670 40,832 2,036 2,080 4,825 4,754 37,881 38,158

eUrope 53,191 53,946 5,866 5,428 2,671 2,480 56,386 56,894Belarus 769 814 90 104 127 131 732 787European Union 43,039 43,498 1,821 1,609 2,530 2,254 42,330 42,853Romania 1,167 - 449 - 8 - 1,608 -Russian Federation 5,254 5,670 2,819 2,844 18 19 8,055 8,495Ukraine 1,758 1,925 270 258 19 19 2,009 2,164

oCeAnIA 6,232 6,133 261 289 2,653 2,682 3,840 3,740Australia 4,311 4,226 103 117 1,717 1,742 2,697 2,601New Zealand 1,458 1,436 37 39 932 937 563 538

World 275,695 278,325 20,911 21,556 21,093 21,404 275,513 278,476Developing Countries 163,967 165,685 9,242 10,190 9,386 9,899 163,823 165,977Developed Countries 111,963 112,880 11,718 11,417 11,712 11,510 111,969 112,787LIFDCs 108,476 108,224 2,875 3,406 1,773 1,754 109,579 109,876LDCs 6,320 6,475 604 664 6 8 6,918 7,131NFIDCs 9,075 9,324 1,033 1,162 97 101 10,012 10,385

1 including “other meat”.


annex 7. Milk and milk prodcuts statistics (million tonnes, milk equivalent)production imports exports

2005 2006 estim.

2007f’cast

2005 2006 estim.

2007f’cast

2005 2006 estim.

2007f’cast

ASIA 216.7 229.0 241.5 22.8 24.0 23.6 4.4 4.6 4.4China 32.0 38.1 45.0 3.5 3.7 3.8 0.4 0.3 0.3India1 95.1 98.4 101.4 - - - 0.6 0.7 0.5Indonesia 0.9 0.9 0.9 1.5 1.6 1.5 0.2 0.2 0.2Iran, Islamic Republic of 7.4 7.6 8.0 0.3 0.3 0.3 - - -Japan 8.3 8.1 8.0 1.6 1.5 1.4 - - -Korea, Republic of 2.2 2.2 2.1 0.8 0.8 0.8 - - -Malaysia - - - 1.3 1.3 1.3 0.2 0.2 0.2Pakistan 29.7 31.2 32.5 - - - - - -Philippines - - - 1.7 1.9 1.8 0.1 0.1 0.1Saudi Arabia 1.2 1.2 1.3 2.2 2.4 2.3 0.8 0.8 0.9Singapore - - - 1.2 1.4 1.4 0.6 0.6 0.7Thailand 0.9 1.0 1.0 1.4 1.4 1.4 0.4 0.4 0.4Turkey 11.1 11.6 12.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1

AfrICA 32.6 32.7 33.0 6.8 7.0 6.8 0.4 0.4 0.4Algeria 1.7 1.7 1.8 1.9 1.8 1.7 - - -Egypt 4.1 3.7 3.7 0.8 0.8 0.8 0.1 0.1 0.1Kenya 2.8 2.8 2.7 - - - - - -South Africa 2.9 2.9 2.8 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.1 0.1 0.1Sudan 7.6 7.6 7.7 0.2 0.2 0.2 - - -Tunisia 1.0 1.0 1.0 0.1 0.1 0.1 - - -

CenTrAl AmerICA 15.7 16.0 16.3 5.4 4.8 4.8 0.3 0.3 0.3Costa Rica 0.8 0.8 0.8 - - - 0.1 0.1 0.1Mexico 10.0 10.2 10.4 2.9 2.4 2.5 0.1 0.1 0.1

SoUTh AmerICA 52.4 54.1 54.7 2.1 2.2 2.2 3.0 3.6 3.1Argentina 10.1 10.8 10.1 - - - 1.7 2.2 1.8Brazil 25.5 26.2 27.0 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.3Colombia 6.8 6.8 6.9 - - - 0.1 0.2 0.2Uruguay 1.8 1.8 1.8 - - - 0.5 0.5 0.4Venezuela 1.3 1.4 1.6 0.8 0.7 0.7 - - -

norTh AmerICA 88.3 90.5 92.0 3.0 2.6 2.6 5.0 5.2 5.3Canada 8.1 8.0 7.9 0.8 0.6 0.7 0.4 0.4 0.4United States of America 80.3 82.5 84.1 2.3 1.9 2.0 4.6 4.8 4.9

eUrope 216.1 215.0 215.5 5.1 5.6 5.7 17.6 15.7 16.3European Union 146.9 145.5 151.4 1.8 1.7 1.6 13.4 11.6 12.1Romania 6.3 6.4 - 0.1 0.1 - - - -Russian Federation 31.1 31.3 32.2 2.4 2.9 3.1 0.3 0.2 0.2Ukraine 13.7 13.3 13.0 - - - 1.3 1.1 1.0

oCeAnIA 24.7 25.4 25.2 0.7 0.7 0.7 15.3 17.5 16.9Australia2 10.1 10.1 9.6 0.4 0.4 0.4 4.7 5.1 4.3New Zealand3 14.5 15.2 15.6 - - - 10.6 12.4 12.6

World 646.5 662.7 678.2 45.9 46.8 46.4 46.0 47.3 46.7Developing Countries 290.2 304.4 317.7 34.6 35.2 34.7 7.9 8.7 8.3Developed Countries 356.2 358.3 360.5 11.3 11.7 11.7 38.1 38.6 38.4LIFDCs 214.7 226.5 238.7 14.3 15.0 14.8 3.3 3.6 3.4LDCs 22.9 23.2 23.5 2.5 2.6 2.5 0.1 0.1 0.1NFIDCs 46.3 47.3 48.5 3.7 3.7 3.7 0.3 0.3 0.3

1 Dairy years starting April of the year stated. 2 Dairy years ending June of the year stated.3 Dairy years ending May of the year stated.Note: The solid content method is used to calculate milk equivalents. ME multiplication factors used: butter, 6.60; cheese (from whole cow milk), 4.4; cheese (from skim cow milk), 2.00; milk powder, 7.60. Regarding assumptions and approaches and in calculation of milk equivalents please refer to Bulletin of IDF 390 (March 2004).


annex 8. World Wheat Flour and products Trade (in thousand MT) 2003/04 2004/05 2005/06 2006/07 2007/08 2008/09MayTy exports Argentina 7,346 13,502 8,301 12,210 9,800 9,500 Australia 15,096 15,826 15,213 11,241 7,500 15,000 Canada 15,526 15,117 15,616 19,481 15,000 17,000 China Peoples Republic of 2,824 1,171 1,397 2,783 2,700 2,000 EU-27 9,834 14,745 15,694 13,873 9,000 15,000 Kazakhstan Republic of 4,217 3,039 3,817 8,000 8,500 6,000 Pakistan 43 200 200 200 2,200 1,000 Russian Federation 3,114 7,951 10,664 10,790 12,000 12,500 Turkey 854 2,217 2,900 2,000 1,500 1,200 Ukraine 66 4,351 6,461 3,366 700 6,000 Others 12,413 6,227 5,770 6,065 6,125 5,725 Subtotal 71,333 84,346 86,033 90,009 75,025 90,925 United States 32,295 28,464 27,424 25,025 35,500 26,000 World Total 103,628 112,810 113,457 115,034 110,525 116,925

2003/04 2004/05 2005/06 2006/07 2007/08 2008/09MayTy imports Algeria 3,933 5,398 5,469 4,879 4,400 5,600

Bangladesh 1,945 2,058 2,009 1,806 1,700 2,000

Brazil 5,559 5,309 6,194 7,750 7,000 7,300

Egypt 7,295 8,150 7,771 7,300 7,500 7,800

EU-27 7,374 7,061 6,758 5,137 6,500 5,000

Indonesia 4,535 4,661 4,981 5,572 5,300 5,600

Iran 246 200 1,105 700 200 2,500

Iraq 1,925 3,010 4,878 3,000 3,500 3,700

Israel 951 1,549 1,663 1,458 1,100 1,500

Japan 5,751 5,744 5,469 5,747 5,500 5,500

Korea Republic of 3,434 3,591 3,884 3,439 3,000 3,100

Malaysia 1,329 1,412 1,216 1,202 1,200 1,500

Mexico 3,644 3,717 3,549 3,610 3,600 3,700

Morocco 2,414 2,272 2,418 1,801 4,000 4,000

Nigeria 2,383 3,014 3,656 3,316 2,900 3,300

Pakistan 47 1,416 966 55 1,700 2,000

Peru 1,488 1,449 1,656 1,332 1,400 1,500

Philippines 2,975 2,593 2,954 2,746 2,300 2,300

South Africa Republic of 911 1,407 1,242 885 1,350 1,500

Thailand 1,139 1,081 1,174 1,131 1,200 1,350

Tunisia 781 1,079 1,263 1,433 1,600 1,600

Turkey 1,056 372 64 1,833 1,500 1,500

Venezuela 1,538 1,504 1,691 1,765 1,600 1,750

Vietnam 830 1,226 1,181 1,293 1,300 1,500


Annex 8. World Wheat Flour and Products Trade (in thousand MT) (cont’d) 2003/04 2004/05 2005/06 2006/07 2007/08 2008/09May Yemen 1,635 1,853 2,143 2,350 1,900 2,000

Others 33,517 36,646 32,632 37,133 31,475 32,665

Subtotal 98,635 107,772 107,986 108,673 104,725 111,765

Unaccounted 3,233 3,092 3,162 2,966 2,900 2,560

United States 1,760 1,946 2,309 3,395 2,900 2,600

World Total 103,628 112,810 113,457 115,034 110,525 116,925

Source: FAO


annex 9. World rice Trade (in thousand MT) 2003/04 2004/05 2005/06 2006/07 2007/08 2008/09MayTy exports Argentina 249 348 487 436 550 625 Brazil 37 272 291 201 275 300 Cambodia 300 200 350 450 350 450 China Peoples Republic of 880 656 1,216 1,340 1,000 1,100 Ecuador 85 85 30 25 100 100 Egypt 826 1,095 958 1,209 800 1,000 EU-27 187 201 144 139 150 150 Guyana 243 182 250 210 210 220 India 3,172 4,687 4,537 6,000 2,500 2,000 Japan 200 200 200 200 200 200 Pakistan 1,986 3,032 3,579 2,400 2,700 3,150 Senegal 0 217 500 200 100 100 Thailand 10,137 7,274 7,376 9,500 9,000 9,000 Uruguay 804 762 812 734 775 800 Vietnam 4,295 5,174 4,705 4,522 4,100 4,500 Others 693 982 742 679 728 230 Subtotal 24,094 25,367 26,177 28,245 23,538 23,925 United States 3,090 3,862 3,306 3,044 3,500 3,125 World Total 27,184 29,229 29,483 31,289 27,038 27,050

2003/04 2004/05 2005/06 2006/07 2007/08 2008/09MayTy imports Bangladesh 801 785 531 650 1,235 1,000 Brazil 829 548 691 684 700 600 Cameroon 275 350 309 300 300 300 Canada 285 321 333 335 340 345 China Peoples Republic of 1,122 609 654 472 300 330 Cote d’Ivoire 867 850 750 950 650 650 Cuba 639 736 594 574 500 600 EU-27 1,184 1,058 1,083 1,150 1,100 1,200 Ghana 425 450 441 340 350 350 Haiti 269 328 399 291 250 300 Hong Kong 309 347 309 348 315 315 Indonesia 650 500 539 2,000 1,100 800 Iran 950 983 1,251 900 900 900 Iraq 889 786 1,306 613 900 900 Japan 706 787 681 700 700 700 Korea Democratic Peoples Rep 366 191 41 336 350 400 Malaysia 700 751 886 800 880 880 Mexico 521 553 586 609 650 650 Nigeria 1,369 1,777 1,600 1,600 1,600 1,700 Philippines 1,100 1,890 1,791 1,900 2,100 2,000 Saudi Arabia 1,500 1,357 1,448 960 1,015 1,100 Senegal 850 518 1,113 800 700 700 Singapore 346 375 375 375 375 375


Annex 9. World Rice Trade (in thousand MT) (cont’d) 2003/04 2004/05 2005/06 2006/07 2007/08 2008/09May South Africa Republic of 818 850 764 817 850 850 Vietnam 300 320 350 450 150 450 Others 7,222 7,706 7,374 7,049 6,425 6,545 Subtotal 25,292 25,726 26,199 26,003 24,735 24,940 Unaccounted 1,415 3,084 2,651 4,587 1,578 1,360 United States 477 419 633 699 725 750 World Total 27,184 29,229 29,483 31,289 27,038 27,050

Source: FAO


annex 10. World Corn Trade (in thousand MT) 2003/04 2004/05 2005/06 2006/07 2007/08 2008/09MayTy exports Argentina 10,439 13,752 10,707 15,693 14,500 16,500 Brazil 5,818 1,431 2,826 8,071 10,500 11,000 China Peoples Republic of 7,553 7,589 3,727 5,269 500 500 EU-27 455 678 449 664 350 1,000 India 1,222 481 497 450 1,500 1,500 Paraguay 548 386 1,314 2,048 2,000 1,500 Serbia nr nr nr 854 150 1,000 South Africa Republic of 797 1,517 1,406 431 1,800 2,500 Thailand 726 396 121 442 500 500 Ukraine 1,238 2,334 2,464 1,027 1,000 2,500 Others 1,461 2,053 2,987 1,976 1,880 1,765 Subtotal 30,257 30,617 26,498 36,925 34,680 40,265 United States 48,809 45,347 56,084 54,150 63,000 53,000 World Total 79,066 75,964 82,582 91,075 97,680 93,265

2003/04 2004/05 2005/06 2006/07 2007/08 2008/09MayTy imports Algeria 1,765 2,145 2,061 2,438 2,400 2,500 Brazil 459 481 931 1,204 950 1,200 Canada 2,033 2,237 1,962 2,226 2,000 2,500 Chile 1,043 1,081 1,587 1,688 1,900 2,000 Colombia 1,999 2,256 3,151 3,341 3,500 3,600 Costa Rica 583 569 687 672 700 700 Cuba 469 546 501 646 650 700 Dominican Republic 824 1,031 1,068 1,212 1,000 1,100 Egypt 3,743 5,398 4,397 4,826 4,200 4,300 El Salvador 476 513 521 622 600 650 EU-27 5,859 2,469 2,634 7,056 13,000 7,000 Guatemala 513 641 751 764 800 800 Iran 1,857 2,558 2,300 3,300 2,700 2,500 Israel 1,377 1,242 1,128 1,311 1,700 1,300 Japan 16,781 16,485 16,617 16,713 16,300 16,100 Korea Republic of 8,783 8,638 8,488 8,737 8,800 9,000 Malaysia 2,401 2,406 2,517 2,400 2,500 2,600 Mexico 5,739 5,945 6,787 8,944 9,700 10,500 Morocco 1,183 1,423 1,491 1,683 1,700 1,800 Peru 1,041 1,301 1,467 1,528 1,400 1,500 Saudi Arabia 1,621 1,224 1,472 1,577 2,000 2,200 Syria 941 1,781 1,256 1,729 1,800 2,000 Taiwan 4,951 4,562 4,533 4,283 4,500 4,400 Tunisia 784 714 624 653 800 900


Annex 10. World Corn Trade (in thousand MT) (cont’d) 2003/04 2004/05 2005/06 2006/07 2007/08 2008/09May Vietnam 36 291 475 650 700 750 Others 9,013 7,682 10,043 10,021 8,080 7,970 Subtotal 76,274 75,619 79,449 90,224 94,380 90,570 Unaccounted 2,436 64 2,923 531 2,925 2,395 United States 356 281 210 320 375 300 World Total 79,066 75,964 82,582 91,075 97,680 93,265

Source: FAO


annex 11. World Coarse Grain Trade (in thousand MT) 2003/04 2004/05 2005/06 2006/07 2007/08 2008/09MayTy exports Argentina 10,834 14,371 11,243 17,181 16,355 18,555 Australia 6,752 4,996 5,616 2,024 2,660 4,305 Brazil 6,191 1,457 2,826 8,188 10,650 11,200 Canada 3,474 3,217 4,010 3,787 5,250 3,550 EU-27 2,378 5,954 3,649 5,495 4,760 6,700 India 1,264 505 501 475 1,525 1,525 Paraguay 548 386 1,314 2,048 2,000 1,500 Russian Federation 1,767 1,534 1,450 1,836 1,050 1,375 South Africa Republic of 838 1,553 1,429 456 1,825 2,525 Ukraine 3,811 6,465 7,444 3,941 2,710 6,600 Others 10,667 10,115 7,457 9,632 4,630 4,645 Subtotal 48,524 50,553 46,939 55,063 53,415 62,480 United States 54,078 50,692 61,443 59,210 71,035 57,595 World Total 102,602 101,245 108,382 114,273 124,450 120,075 2003/04 2004/05 2005/06 2006/07 2007/08 2008/09MayTy imports Algeria 1,788 2,273 2,138 2,597 2,455 2,650 Brazil 596 745 1,096 1,500 1,260 1,455 Canada 2,081 2,339 2,029 2,285 2,070 2,625 Chile 1,148 1,189 1,663 1,915 2,100 2,200 China Peoples Republic of 1,533 2,073 2,306 1,156 1,330 1,425 Colombia 2,232 2,516 3,380 3,669 3,775 3,850 Dominican Republic 824 1,031 1,068 1,212 1,000 1,100 Egypt 3,747 5,405 4,418 4,901 4,220 4,310 EU-27 7,699 2,906 2,883 8,738 18,560 9,155 Guatemala 513 641 751 764 800 800 Iran 2,518 3,849 2,887 3,600 3,200 3,700 Israel 2,012 1,700 1,588 1,684 2,115 1,800 Japan 19,982 19,709 19,765 19,668 19,160 19,160 Jordan 771 938 1,234 1,186 900 1,000 Korea Republic of 8,992 8,715 8,550 8,803 8,870 9,070 Libya 531 693 713 586 650 800 Malaysia 2,401 2,406 2,517 2,400 2,500 2,600 Mexico 8,873 8,975 9,930 10,995 10,825 12,150 Morocco 1,326 1,989 1,971 2,088 2,405 2,805 Peru 1,114 1,366 1,548 1,650 1,500 1,600 Saudi Arabia 7,322 7,724 8,578 7,577 8,000 8,500 Syria 1,541 2,281 1,868 1,957 2,100 2,850 Taiwan 5,114 4,757 4,735 4,402 4,650 4,575 Tunisia 883 1,228 1,230 1,519 1,300 1,600


Annex 11. World Coarse Grain Trade (in thousand MT) (cont’d) 2003/04 2004/05 2005/06 2006/07 2007/08 2008/09May Vietnam 36 291 475 650 700 750 Others 11,855 10,388 12,919 12,940 11,150 11,370 Subtotal 97,432 98,127 102,240 110,442 117,595 113,900 Unaccounted 2,914 876 3,847 1,225 3,923 3,540 United States 2,256 2,242 2,295 2,606 2,932 2,635 World Total 102,602 101,245 108,382 114,273 124,450 120,075

Source: FAO


annex 12. Major oilseeds: World supply and distribution (Country view) 2003/04 2004/05 2005/06 2006/07 apr 2007/08 May 2007/08productionUnited States 76.6 95.94 95.53 96.61 80.12 80Brazil 53.58 55.58 59.13 62.01 64.06 64.05China Peoples Republic of 51.31 58.35 56.8 59.09 54.32 54.63Argentina 36.84 43.43 45.03 53.16 52.31 52.34India 29.68 29.39 30.6 29.92 34.41 34.41Other 87.85 98.85 104.29 107.35 105.6 105.37 Total 335.85 381.53 391.38 408.14 390.83 390.8

2003/04 2004/05 2005/06 2006/07 apr 2007/08 May 2007/08importsChina Peoples Republic of 17.36 26.12 29 29.7 34.71 34.86EU-27 16.9 16 15.92 17.19 16.73 16.94Japan 7.27 6.83 6.54 6.55 6.57 6.62Mexico 5.33 5.11 5.48 5.47 5.79 5.69Argentina 0.57 0.69 0.6 2.02 2.42 2.42Taiwan 2.23 2.27 2.51 2.44 2.48 2.36Turkey 1.33 1.53 1.61 1.78 1.83 1.83Indonesia 1.19 1.28 1.42 1.51 1.57 1.57Thailand 1.45 1.56 1.52 1.58 1.69 1.54Korea Republic of 1.52 1.42 1.37 1.41 1.35 1.4Other 9 9.95 9.33 11.11 11.45 11.6 Total 64.13 72.74 75.29 80.76 86.58 86.81

2003/04 2004/05 2005/06 2006/07 apr 2007/08 May 2007/08exportsUnited States 25.16 30.71 26.61 31.68 30.61 31.12Brazil 20.58 20.24 25.99 23.65 27.18 26.67Argentina 7.04 10.08 7.83 10.17 12.24 12.28Canada 4.79 4.67 6.8 7.33 6.92 7.33Paraguay 2.78 2.91 2.52 4.06 4.68 4.48Ukraine 1.02 0.13 0.63 1.23 1.39 1.29China Peoples Republic of 1.24 1.57 1.28 1.47 1.12 1.12Other 4.41 4.14 4.37 3.56 3.95 4.21 Total 67.02 74.44 76.03 83.15 88.07 88.5


Annex 12. Major Oilseeds: World Supply and Distribution (Country View) (con’td) 2003/04 2004/05 2005/06 2006/07 apr 2007/08 May 2007/08CrushChina Peoples Republic of 51.89 60.54 64.87 67.52 66.86 67.31United States 45.53 50.17 51.9 53.45 54.5 54.53Argentina 28.18 31.41 35.93 36.94 42.69 42.67EU-27 31.1 33.38 34.18 36.21 37.31 37.51Brazil 31.29 31.24 30.01 33.08 33.95 33.95India 23.45 23.55 25 24.62 27.93 27.93Russian Federation 4.41 5.15 6.51 7.16 6.56 6.46Indonesia 4.63 5.15 5.58 5.76 6.09 6.09Mexico 5.52 5.51 5.85 5.79 6.11 6Canada 4.92 4.61 4.91 4.93 5.15 5.25Japan 5.82 5.42 5.12 5.17 5.1 5.15Pakistan 3.99 5.41 5.08 5.51 5.07 5.07Malaysia 4.05 4.65 4.72 4.4 4.9 4.9Ukraine 3.32 3.34 4.98 5.39 4.46 4.56Turkey 2.8 2.87 2.83 3.14 2.9 2.9Other 28.2 30.31 30.98 32.17 31.57 31.42 Total 279.08 302.71 318.44 331.23 341.15 341.7

2003/04 2004/05 2005/06 2006/07 apr 2007/08 May 2007/08ending stocksArgentina 16.56 17.62 17.93 24.37 22.53 22.53Brazil 15.52 16.77 16.75 18.76 18.43 18.93United States 4.15 8.29 14.2 17.02 5.47 4.99China Peoples Republic of 2.1 4.7 4.47 3.12 2.82 2.82EU-27 1.83 3.14 3.24 3.38 2.89 2.56Other 4.58 6.54 7.63 6.37 5.07 4.89 Total 44.73 57.05 64.22 73.03 57.21 56.73

Source: FAO


annex 14. rice Trade07/08

net exportersArgentina 442Australia -254China 435Egypt 829India 3,375Myanmar (Burma) 116Pakistan 2,905Thailand 8,031United States 2,829Uruguay 800Vietnam 4,865

Total Net Exports 24,374

net importersBangladesh 986Brazil 745Canada 363European Union-27 884China - Hong Kong 312Indonesia 1,342Iran 921Iraq 1,053Ivory Coast 727Japan 500Malaysia 808Mexico 627Nigeria 1,703Philippines 1,635Saudi Arabia 1,114South Africa 868South Korea 116Taiwan 147Turkey 215Rest of World 9,305

Total Net Imports 24,374

pricesThai 100% Grade B 397Thai 5% Broken 391U.S. FOB Gulf Ports 498

Source:USDA

annex 13. Wheat Trade07/08

net exportersArgentina 10,000Australia 7,925Canada 13,725European Union 2,500Other CIS + 4,030Russia 11,000Ukraine 1,250United States 29,529


net importersAlgeria 4,400Brazil 6,995China -2,350Egypt 6,990India 1,950Iran 150Japan 5,075Mexico 3,050Morocco 3,950Other Africa/Middle East 18,170Other Asia 15,190Other Eastern Europe ++ 575Other Latin America 8,410Pakistan 0South Korea 2,920Taiwan 1,075Tunisia 1,200Rest of World 1,430Residual 779


Wheat pricesU.S. FOB Gulf 313.55Canadian Wheat Board 295.70AWB Limited Export Quote 303.33European Union Market 318.09

Source:USDA


annex 15. Corn Trade07/08

net exportersArgentina 16,000Australia 10Brazil 7,750China 900South Africa 550Thailand -100Ukraine 1,500United States 61,852


net importersAlgeria 2,200Canada 1,600Egypt 4,500European Union 9,700India -500Indonesia 975Israel 1,500Japan 16,300Malaysia 2,690Mexico 10,175Other Africa 2,570Other Asia -15Other CIS + 45Other Eastern Europe ++ 340Other Latin America 11,265Other Middle East 8,725Pakistan 10Philippines 200Russia 150South Korea 8,800Taiwan 4,300Vietnam 700Rest of World 40Residual 2,192


pricesCorn (FOB Gulf) 198Sorghum (FOB Gulf) 191Barley (Canada Feed) 174

Source:USDA

annex 16. soybean Trade07/08

net exportersArgentina 9,100Brazil 29,588Canada 1,070CIS 235India 5Paraguay 4,585United States 26,907


net importersChina 33,700European Union 15,405Japan 4,150Mexico 3,950South Korea 1,225Taiwan 2,475Rest of World 10,149Residual 436


Source:USDA


annex 17. beef and veal Trade2007

net exportersArgentina 520Australia 1,444Brazil 2,375Canada 255China - Mainland 94European Union -550India 725New Zealand 503Thailand 0Ukraine 27United States -778


net importersChina - Hongkong 100Egypt 250Indonesia 18Japan 715Mexico 355Other CIS + -44Other Eastern Europe ++ 9Paraguay -20Philippines 160Russia 1,042South Africa 23South Korea 315Taiwan 105Vietnam 1Rest of World 1,586


Source:USDA

annex 18. pork Trade2007 2008

net exportersAustralia -86 -59Brazil 715 857Canada 880 776European Union 1,250 1,391Other CIS + -31 -38Thailand 6 7United States 979 1,102

Total Net Exports 4,140 4,386

net importersArgentina 15 11China - Hongkong 293 313China - Mainland -310 -253Indonesia 0 0Japan 1,200 1,319Mexico 365 439New Zealand 3 3Other Eastern Europe ++ 23 23Paraguay 0 7Philippines 27 39Russia 854 780South Korea 435 531Taiwan 17 48Ukraine 79 15Vietnam 0 38Rest of World 711 724

Total Net Imports 4,140 4,386

Source:USDA


annex 19. broiler Meat Trade2007

net exportersAustralia 14Brazil 2,905European Union 150Thailand 315United States 2,558


net importersArgentina -146Canada 10China - Mainland 160China - Hongkong 233Egypt 6India 0Indonesia 4Japan 673Mexico 414New Zealand -4Other CIS + 64Other Eastern Europe ++ 49Paraguay 0Philippines 38Russia 1,179Saudi Arabia 430South Africa 235South Korea 56Taiwan 48Ukraine 144Vietnam 5Rest of World 2,344


Source:USDA

annex 20. butter Trade2007

net exportersArgentina 3Australia 62Canada 3Colombia 6European Union 172India -1New Zealand 399Ukraine 8Uruguay 13

Total Net Exports 684

net importersAlgeria 14Brazil 0China 30Egypt 49Indonesia 11Japan 9Malaysia 10Mexico 50Peru 0Philippines 10Russia 125Saudi Arabia 36South Korea 4Switzerland 4Thailand 14United States -18Venezuela 2Vietnam 5Rest of World 309

Total Net Imports 684

Source:USDA


annex 21. Cheese Trade2007

net exportersArgentina 43Australia 141Colombia 5European Union 495New Zealand 297Switzerland 19Ukraine 55Uruguay 15


net importersAlgeria 21Brazil -2Canada 17China 46Egypt 5Indonesia 8Japan 215Malaysia 7Mexico 86Peru 5Philippines 7Russia 240Saudi Arabia 81South Korea 47Thailand 2United States 81Venezuela 6Vietnam 1Rest of World 196


Source:USDA

annex 22. nonfat dry Milk Trade2007

net exportersArgentina 12Australia 170Canada 5Colombia 4European Union 145India 58New Zealand 316Switzerland 10Ukraine 60United States 270Uruguay 15


net importersAlgeria 55Brazil -1China 38Egypt 30Indonesia 142Japan 32Malaysia 55Mexico 192Peru 5Philippines 80Russia 35Saudi Arabia 22South Korea 7Thailand 93Venezuela 5Vietnam 21Rest of World 253


Source:USDA


annex 23. Whole Milk powder Trade2007 2008

net exportersArgentina 94 96Australia 120 116Canada 0 0Colombia 47 57European Union 392 383New Zealand 680 689Ukraine 21 23Uruguay 27 19

Total Net Exports 1,396 1,406

net importersAlgeria 175 181Brazil -7 -13China -8 -9Egypt 35 38Indonesia 27 28Malaysia 93 97Mexico 34 34Peru 9 12Philippines 10 12Russia 20 25Saudi Arabia 90 99South Korea 2 2Thailand 40 41Venezuela 95 98Vietnam 33 39Rest of World 732 700

Total Net Imports 1,396 1,406

Source:USDA


annex 24. 2007 Top Global retailersFollowing is a chart of the largest global food retailers. Sales figures are for the latest financial year. Companies included must have a third of their sales from food.

rank Company headquarters Top executive sales in billions

no. of stores Countries of operation

1 Wal-Mart Stores

U.S. H. Lee Scott Jr. $312.40 6,380 Argentina, Brazil, Canada, China, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Germany, Guatemala, Honduras, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico, United Kingdom, United States

2 Carrefour France José Luis Duran $92.6 12,179 Argentina, Bahrain, Belgium, Brazil, China, Colombia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Dominican Republic, Egypt, France, French Polynesia, Greece, Guadeloupe, Indonesia, Italy, Malaysia, Martinique, New Caledonia, Oman, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Reunion, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Slovakia, Spain, South Korea, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates

3 Tesco U.K. Terry Leahy $69.6 2,365 China, Czech Republic, France, Hungary, Ireland, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Poland, Slovakia, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, United Kingdom

4 Metro Group Germany Hans-Joachim Körber $69.3 2,458 Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, China, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Italy, Japan, Moldova, Morocco, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia and Montenegro, Slovakia, Spain, Turkey, United Kingdom, Vietnam

5 Kroger U.S. David B. Dillon $60.6 3,726 United States6 Ahold Netherlands Anders Moberg $55.3 6,422 Czech Republic, Denmark,

Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Slovakia, Sweden, United States

7 Costco U.S. James Sinegal $52.9 460 Canada, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Taiwan, United Kingdom, United States

8 Rewe Germany Achim Egner $51.8 11,242 Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Switzerland, Ukraine


Annex 24. 2007 Top Global Retailers (cont’d)



9 Schwarz Group

Germany Klaus Gehrig $45.8e 7,299 Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom

10 Aldi Germany Hartmuth Wiesemann $45.0e 7,788 Australia, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States

11 Walgreens U.S. David W. Bernauer $42.2 4,953 Puerto Rico, United States12 Auchan France Gérard Mulliez $41.8 2,686 Angola, China, France,

Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, Morocco, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Taiwan

13 Edeka Germany Alfons Frenk $41.3e 19,001 Austria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Russia

14 Albertsons U.S. Larry Johnston $40.4 2,541 United States15 AEON Japan Motoya Okada $40.2 10,132 Canada, China, Hong Kong,

Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand, United Kingdom, United States

16 Safeway (USA)

U.S. Steven A. Burd $38.4 1,914 Canada, Mexico, United States

17 ITM (Intermarché)

France Michel Pattou $37.7 3,932 Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, France, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Serbia and Montenegro

18 Leclerc France Michel-Edouard Leclerc

$35.4 581 France, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain

19 Seven & I Japan Toshifumi Suzuki $35.3 21,136 Australia, Canada, China, Denmark, Guam, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Norway, Puerto Rico, Singapore, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, United States

20 Tengelmann Germany Karl-Erivan W. Haub $29.8e 7,730 Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, United States

21 Sainsbury U.K. Justin King $29.2 808 United Kingdom


Annex 24. 2007 Top Global Retailers (cont’d)



22 Casino France Jean-Charles Naouri $28.3 9,388 Argentina, Bahrain, Belgium, Benin, Brazil, Cameroon, Colombia, Comoros, France, Guadeloupe, Latvia, Lithuania, Lebanon, Madagascar, Martinique, Mauritius, Mexico, Morocco, Netherlands, New Caledonia, Poland, Reunion, Saudi Arabia, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Togo, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, Uruguay, United States, Venezuela, Vietnam

23 Woolworths (AUS)

Australia Roger Corbett $28.0e 2,744 Australia, New Zealand

24 Coles Myer Australia John Fletcher $27.9 2,775 Australia, New Zealand25 Delhaize

GroupBelgium Pierre-Olivier Beckers $23.1 2,637 Belgium, Czech Republic,

Germany, Greece, Indonesia, Luxembourg, Romania, United States

Carrefour: Includes franchises; in 2005, sold Japan, Mexico operations, split with franchise partner Norges Gruppen in Norway; in 2006, will exit Czech R. and Slovakia (agreed in 2005 to asset swap with Tesco, pending approval), plans to sell S. Korean operation, enter Algeria.

Tesco: Exiting Taiwan, entering U.S., 2007.

Metro: Held 40.5% stake in Praktiker DIY, 2005; sales, stores and countries exclude Praktiker; entry planned for Pakistan.

ahold: 2005 market exits from Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua.

Costco: Exploring entry in Australia.

rewe: Sold French, Swiss retail operations, 2005; focusing on food service.

schwartz Group: Entry expected in Bulgaria, Cyprus, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovenia, Switzerland, Ukraine.

aldi: Entry expected in Greece, Hungary, Poland, New Zealand, Portugal.

edeka: Acquired ITM’s German operations, 2005; withdrawal from Czech R., 2006.

albertsons: Sale pending to SuperValu, investment consortium, 2006.

safeway Usa: Stores include Mexican chain Casa Ley.

auchan: Exited Argentina, 2005; entry in Romania planned, 2006.

iTM: Exited Germany, 2005.

seven & i: Stores exclude franchises in Europe, Hong Kong, S. Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand; plans to franchise stores in Germany.

Tengelmann: Left Canada, late 2005, and China.

Casino: Planned 2006 entry in Czech R.; 2005, opened stores in UAE (franchise partnership with Fu-Com), Latvia, Lithuania (with IKI), Switzerland (with Magro) and Leader Price operations in Togo, Cameroon, Belgium, etc., through acquisition of stake in Geimex.

Woolworths: Entry into India imminent.

Source: M+M Planet Retail, www.planetretail.net; SN research

http://supermarketnews.com/global-retailers/


annex 25. Measures taken by governments to limit the impact of high international cereal pricesaFriCa

benin [Dec 2007] Imposed food price controls starting from December 1st, 2007 and extended for another 3 months on

Aptil 1st, 2008. [Apr 2008] Waived import tariffs on wheat, maize, rice, pasta and oil.Burkina Faso [Feb 2008] Reduction in customs on basic foodstuffs.Cameroon [Apr 2008] Raised state salaries by 15 percent and suspended custom duties on basic foodstuffs including rice,

cooking oil and fuel.Congo [May 2008] Reduction from 18 to 5 percent in the rate of VAT levied on a range of basic imported foodstuffs and

other goods deemed essential. These included staples such as wheat, sugar, rice, salted fish, baby food and household products such as soap.

egypt [May 2008] Egypt has opened its ration card system until June 30 and doubled the amount of rice that card hold-

ers receive. Egypt had not added to the ration card registry since 1988. A total of 55 million people out of Egypt’s population of 75 million are covered by the system. The card holders are allowed to buy 2 kg of rice (double the amount previously allowed) in addition to 2 kg of sugar, 1.5 kg of oil, and 50 grams of tea per person every month for EGP 15.

ethiopia [Mar 2008] Value-added and turnover taxes removed on food grains and flour. [Mar 2008] Subsidized wheat supply of 25kg every month and edible oil for low-income urban dwellers. To be

continued until prices stabilize. [May 2008] Government to import 150 000 tonnes of wheat for state subsidized distribution scheme etc.Ghana [May 2008] Excise duties and tax on oil and fuel are removed for the country’s fishermen and subsidies on fertil-

izer and free tractors are to be available for farmers. [May 2008] Eliminated all import duties on rice, wheat, yellow corn and vegetable oil.Guinea [Apr 2008] Ban on exports and reexports of all types of agricultural commodities, forestry, livestock, oil and tim-

ber.kenya [Jan 2008] Up to 270 000 tonnes of duty free maize imports from South Africa to be allowed.lesotho [Jan 2008] Taxes on foodgrains reduced. [Apr 2008] Subsidy of 20 percent introduced on major foodstuffs distributed through specific outlets.liberia [Apr 2008] Extension of rice cultivation: Government signed over 1,500 ha of land for commercial rice production. [May 2008] Ban on all kinds of food exports.Malawi [Jan 2008] Ban on maize exports except for current contract with Zimbabwe.Mauritania [Jun 2008] Suspension of import taxes for rice, creation of cereal banks across the country.niger [Mar 2008] Taxes on rice import suspended for 3 months.nigeria [Apr 2008] Release of 65,000 tons of grains from SR. [May 2008] Tariffs on rice import are suspended for 6 months.


rwanda [May 2008] 339 400 head of cattle to be distributed to at least 600,000 families by 2012.senegal [Apr 2008] Imposed food price controls. [Apr 2008] Waived import tariffs on wheat. [Apr 2008] Wheat flour subsidized at 40 percent.south africa [Apr 2008] Increased allowances to poor, old-age and disabled.United republic of Tanzania [Jan 2008] Export ban. [Jan 2008] Waiver on duty for maize imports fom January 2008 to May 2008.Zambia [Mar 2008] Export ban.

Source: FAO


annex 26. Measures taken by governments to limit the impact of high international cereal pricesasia

afghanistan [May 2008] Government to government contracts being negotiated to import wheat via Pakistan and Kazakhstan.azerbaijan [May 2008] Eliminated VAT on grain, rice and flour imports. [May 2008] Eliminated customs on grain and rice imports.bangladesh [Mar 2008] Subsidized rice sales in urban areas. Open market sale (5 kg/household). [Apr 2008] Procurement price for Boro rice (milled) fixed at BDT 28 (USD 0.41) per kg and for Boro paddy at BDT

18 per kg. [May 2008] Ban on export of all non-aromatic rices as of May 7th, 2008 for six months.Cambodia [Apr 2008] Release of state rice stocks. [Apr 2008] Two month halt of rice exports.China [Dec 2007] VAT export rebate removed on wheat, rice, maize and soybeans. [Jan 2008] Export duties introduced: 20 percent on wheat, buckwheat, barley and oats; 5 percent on rice, maize,

sorghum, millet and soybeans; 25 percent on wheat flour and starch; 10 percent on flours of maize, rice and soybeans.

[Apr 2008] Taxes on fertilizer exports doubled to ensure supplies for domestic farmers. [Apr 2008] Minimum purchase price of rice and wheat raised. [Apr 2008] Cancellation of 13% export tax rebate. [Jun 2008] Reduced import duty from 12 percent to 6 percent on frozen pork and from 5 percent to 2 percent on

meals (soybean meal, peanut meal, etc).india [Mar 2008] Minimum sale price for basmati rice exports raised by about 50 percent to USD 1 200 per tonne. [Apr 2008] Ban on non-basmati rice exports. [Apr 2008] India imposed an export duty of INR 8 000 rupees (USD 200) on the premium basmati rice.indonesia [Apr 2008] Domestic rice prices raised from IDR 2 000-IDR 4 000 per kg to IDR 2 200-IDR 4 300 per kg. [Apr 2008] Subsidies introduced for the poor: IDR 50 000 (USD 5.40) per month. [Apr 2008] Duty on wheat imports (5%) and soybeans (10%) removed. [Apr 2008] Rice to be exported only when the stockpile reaches over 3 million tons.Jordan [Feb 2008] Continuation of wheat subsidy, earmarked to be scrapped. (Wheat price remains about one-third of

international price.)kazakhstan [Apr 2008] Wheat exports frozen until 1 September 2008.Malaysia [Jan 2008] Some rice imports to be subsidized. Price caps to be implemented on Super Special Tempatan 5

percent and Super Special Tempatan 10 percent at MYR 2.8 per kg and MYR 2.7 per kg respectively from June.

[Jan 2008] Guaranteed minimum price for producers raised from MYR 650 to MYR 750 per tonne. [Apr 2008] Allocated the budget of USD 1.29 billion to grow rice on a massive scale in a state on Borneo Island. [May 2008] Monthly release of imported rice (ST15) to market to be raised by 9 000 tonnes to 20 000 tonnes. [May 2008] Malaysia, the world’s second-largest producer of palm oil after Indonesia, announced that it is ready to

offer palm oil in exchange for rice.Mongolia [Jan 2008] Value-added tax removed from imported wheat and flour.


nepal [Apr 2008] Exports of rice and other grains are banned. [May 2008] Increasing state emergency food stocks by 15,000 tons.pakistan [Mar 2008] Wheat support price for farmers raised. [Apr 2008] Minimum export prices imposed on four grades of rice. Super basmati rice: USD 1 500 per tonne

(fob); basmati: USD 1 300 per tonne; broken white rice (IRRI-6): USD 750 per tonne; and long-grain rice (IRRI-9): USD 1 000 per tonne.

philippines [Mar 2008] Approximately USD 1 billion allocated to boost rice production. (Seed production, fertilizer production,

irrigation, infrastructure, technical training, and drying and post-harvest facilities.) [Apr 2008] Allocation of cheap rice cut to 3 kg per buyer. [Apr 2008] Quotas on rice and maize imports by private traders lifted but tariffs for these products remain in

place.republic of korea [Jan 2008] Import duties reduced: milling wheat from 1 to 0.5 percent; maize from 1.5 to 0.5 percent; soybeans

and feed maize from 2 to zero percent.saudi arabia [Jan 2008] Duty on wheat eliminated entirely. Duties on food products (Frozen poultry, dairy goods and vegetable

oil cut to 5 percent from 20 percent.) [Apr 2008] Increased subsidies on some important food stuffs such as rice. [Apr 2008] Introduced welfare payments.sri lanka [Apr 2008] Control measures introduced on retail and wholesale prices for all varieties of rice (effective from 16

April). Government to keep the price of rice under LKR 100 (about USD 0.9) per kilogram.Thailand [Apr 2008] Rice from state stocks (up to 2.1 million tonnes) to be sold to low-income families at 15-20 percent

below market prices.viet nam [Mar 2008] Rice export ban extended through June 2008. Total rice exports in 2008 are likely to be cut to about

3.5 million tonnes from 4.5 million tonnes in 2007.


annex 27. Measures taken by governments to limit the impact of high international cereal priceslaTin aMeriCa and The Caribbean

argentina [May 2008] Despite a current ban on exports, the Government has authorized 100 000 tonnes of wheat exports to

Brazil.bolivia [Feb 2008] Export ban introduced on rice, wheat, wheat flour, maize, vegetable oils, beef and chicken meat, and

live animals. From late March/early April, export ban was lifted for chicken meat and maize. From April 21, export ban was lifted for vegetable oils,on condition that dometic supply is adequate and consum-er price is ‘fair’.

[Feb 2008] Import tariff cancelled for rice, wheat, wheat flour, maize, vegetable oils, beef, chicken and live ani-mals.

brazil [Jan 2007] Government auctions 55 000 tonnes of rice from its stocks. [Jan 2008] Temporary stop to exports of government-owned stocks of rice. [Apr 2008] Foreign trade chamber approved raising the quota for tariff-free imports of wheat from outside the

Mercosur to 2 million tonnes, up from 1 million tonnes approved in January 2008.dominican republic [Jan 2008] Consumer price subsidies for rice, wheat flour, beans and chicken meat. [Jan 2008] Starting at the end of 2007 the Government is subsidizing consumer prices of rice, meat (chichen,

beef, pork), bread, wheat flour, beans, tomatoes, onions, cassava, etc..ecuador [Sep 2008] Price subsidy for bakeries on imported wheat flour. [Dec 2008] Eliminated import tariffs on wheat and wheat flour.el salvador [Feb 2008] Import levy on wheat flour to be cancelled until the end of the year or up to a maximum of 10 000

tonnes.(Joint Agreement between El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Honduras.Guatemala [Feb 2008] Import levy on wheat flour to be cancelled until the end of the year or up to a maximum of 10 000

tonnes.(Joint Agreement between El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Honduras.haiti [Apr 2008] Subsidies introduced on imported rice.honduras [Feb 2008] Import levy on wheat flour to be cancelled until the end of the year or up to a maximum of 10 000

tonnes. (Joint Agreement between El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Honduras.Mexico [May 2008] Removed import tariffs on wheat, rice, maize and fertilizers. [Aug 2008] 250 000 tonnes of rice imports to be allowed without paying the 20 percent tariff tax.nicaragua [Feb 2008] Import levy on wheat flour to be cancelled until the end of the year or upt to a maximum of 10 000

tonnes. (Joint Agreement between El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Honduras. [May 2008] Import tariff removed for beans. Reduction of import tariffs to zero or 5% for some types of vegetable

oils.peru [Apr 2008] Removed import tariffs on wheat and maize.


annex 28. Measures taken by governments to limit the impact of high international cereal prices norTh aMeriCa, eUrope, oCeania

russian Federation [Nov 2007] Export taxes set on wheat and barley. [Dec 2007] Staple food prices, including wheat and rye, frozen until 1 May 2008. [Feb 2008] Raised taxes on exports of wheat (40 percent) and barley (30 percent). [Apr 2008] Ban on wheat exports to Belarus and Kazakhstan. [Nov 2008] Taxes on some basic foodstuffs are reduced.Ukraine [Jul 2007] Imposed strict grain export quota. [Oct 2007] Increased grain export quota with validity until 31 March 2008. [Mar 2008] Extended period of grain export quota validity to 30 June 2008. [Apr 2008] Extended period of grain export quota validuty to 1 July 2008. [May 2008] Grain export quotas are lifted.

Pesticide Action Network Asia-Pacific P.O. Box 1170 10850 Penang, Malaysia Tel: 604-657 0271/656 0381 Fax: 604-658 3960 Email: [email protected] http://www.panap.net

PCFS c/o PANAPE-mail: [email protected]://www.foodsov.org

This Special Release on “The Global Food Crisis: Hype and Reality” is researched and written by Rosario Bella Guzman, an economist based in the Philippines. Ms. Guzman is the executive editor of IBON Foundation Inc., an independent development institution established in 1978 that provides re-search, education, publications, information work and advocacy support on socioeconomic issues.

This seventh issue of Special Release is published by the People’s Coalition on Food Sovereignty (PCFS) and the Pesticide Action Network Asia and the Pacific (PAN AP). This publication aims to provide critical analyses and raise awareness on food sovereignty issues.

PCFS is a growing network of various grassroots groups of small food producers particularly of peasant-farmer organizations and their support NGOs, working towards a People’s Convention on Food Sovereignty.

Pesticide Action Network (PAN) is a global network working to eliminate the human and environ-mental harm caused by pesticides and to promote biodiversity based ecological agriculture. PAN Asia and the Pacific is committed to the empowerment of people especially women, agricultural workers, peasant and indigenous farmers.

Unrest over food, leading to “food riots” in some countries and dubbed as “food war” by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), has hogged the headlines lately. But the depressing news have turned bizarre as proponents of neo-liberal globalization (the IMF included) have used the issue to push for more neo-liberal restructuring in food and agriculture, leading many to believe that the global food crisis is hyped.

Most of the “food riots” are happening in underdeveloped countries where workers and peasants have become less and less able to afford food due to rocketing prices. Ironically, these are happening while giant agribusiness transnational corporations (TNCs) such as Cargill and grain traders such as Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) have increased their profits as of the first quarter of 2008 by 86% and 67%, respectively. Ironically still, here come the IMF, the World Bank, Asian Development Bank (ADB), UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and the World Trade Organization (WTO) with solutions leading to greater globalization, in particular the resumption and completion of WTO talks and agreements, which have in the first place aggravated the global food crisis and intensified TNC profiteering.

Pesticide Action Network Asia-Pacific P.O. Box 1170 10850 Penang, Malaysia Tel: 604-657 0271/656 0381 Fax: 604-658 3960 Email: [email protected] http://www.panap.net

PCFS c/o PANAPE-mail: [email protected]://www.foodsov.org

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