Miller Magazine Issue: 124 April 2020

16 NEWS MILLER / APRIL 2020 As the COVID-19 pandemic worsened globally, some countries have turned more protec- tionist. Vietnam has curbed rice exports. Russia has halted grain exports. Kazakhstan has suspended exports of wheat flour and buckwheat. Even though there are adequate supplies of staple food, restrictions by countries reserving strategic supplies heighten the risk for global supply chains. Trade restrictions threaten global grain supply As concerns grow for the global pandemic, COVID-19, food security and supplies of staple food grains have be- come a global focus. Despite sufficient global supplies and the upcoming harvest season, several key exporters have put in place various forms of trade restrictions to increa- se domestic food security. In particular, Russia, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan have each imposed export restrictions for wheat for the months of April to June 2020, creating ne- ar-term regional and global supply concerns. Such moves could lead to an acceleration of food pri- ce inflation during a time when consumers are concerned about lockdowns and have created their own stockpiles at home. Countries most exposed to a rise in food price inflation include those with elevated imports as a share of domestic food supply, such as the Middle East, China, Japan and South Korea. “We risk a looming food crisis unless measures are ta- ken fast to protect the most vulnerable, keep global food supply chains alive and mitigate the pandemic’s impacts across the food system,” warned the Food and Agricul- ture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). The FAO said disruptions can be expected in April and May. Restrictions on movements and “basic aversion beha- vior” by workers could impede farming, said the FAO. Food processors, who handle the vast majority of agri- cultural products, could also be prevented from proces- sing the farm products. “We are already seeing, howe- ver, challenges in terms of the logistics involving the movement of food (not being able to move food from point A to point B), and the pandemic’s impact on lives- tock sector due to reduced access to animal feed and slaughterhouses’ diminished capacity (due to logistical constraints and labor shortages) similar to what happe- ned in China,” said the FAO. Here is a list of countries that have applied trade restri- ctions on food or agricultural products due to the spread of the coronavirus around the world. RUSSIA Russia, the world's top wheat exporter, has an export COVID-19 ımpact on graın and mıllıng ındustry