Miller Magazine Issue: 129 September 2020

65 INTERVIEW MILLER / September 2020 the Netherlands’ grain and feed trade? Initially, there was a lot of uncertainty in the market. We had some (minor) hick ups in supply chains in Europe. Thanks to the efforts of EU Commission, by installing so called “green lanes” the largest hick ups at closed bor- der crossings were quickly removed. The EU commission has already asked it Members States in an early stage in order to ensure that supply chains continue to function across the EU, to designate without delay all major inter- nal border crossings in the trans-European transport net- work (TEN-T) as green lanes. Those green lanes must be open to all freight vehicles, no matter which goods they transport. Including health checks and checks, crossing a border should not take more than 15 minutes. Presently one can say that most of the business is back to usual again. In the ports crew replacement of vessels was nearly impossible due to the travel restrictions worldwide. This is currently still an issue. Since a few years the number of animals in the Neth- erlands is decreasing, mainly the number of pigs. Gov- ernment measures on climate makes it difficult for pig breeders to compete on the EU- and world market. This decrease is expected to continue the coming years. This may cause a less demand in the Netherlands for feed and feed ingredients. The COVID-19 pandemic has put enormous strains on food supply chains. Many countries have imple- mented restrictive measures against the grain and flour exports to safeguard national food security. How do/will these measures affect the grain trade? There are concerns that Covid-19 will have lasting im- pacts on international grain trade. Do you share these concerns? In short term, COVID-19 pandemic will have impact until a vaccine is available and, more important, until it is available for the whole world population. Demand will therefore be for the moment on a lower level as before. Less out-of-home consumption is an important cause. Het Comité does not see any structural long-term im- pact on international grain- and feed trade because of Covid-19 pandemic. The world -people and animals- need to be fed and trade is crucial for distributing grains around the world, bringing it to the right place at the right time. Where we see more possible issues is with processed consumer products. Countries easy tend to re- strict imports or export if they have a slightest fear or doubt that products are in one way or another possibly infected. Even sometimes initiated by political arguments. Another impact will have the awareness of consumers on consumption of animal proteins. Specially the aware- ness of the effect of animal proteins on climate and sus- tainability. This can ensure that animal proteins will be replaced by vegetable proteins. Worries about food se- curity will strengthen this process. Also, the frictions between China and the US can cause important shifts in world trade. South America, Eastern European countries and Australia may have a bigger part of the world Agri commodity trade at the expense of the US. Do you think the pandemic would cause radical re- forms in the food supply system? I cannot judge if the COVID-19 pandemic causes rad- ical reforms in the food supply systems. What I can see is that the call for closing supply chain cycles is growing.