ACCORDING to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the global food import bill would reach a new high of 1.8 trillion dollars in 2022. This was stated by the United Nations Food and Agriculture agency in its newest Food Outlook report, which was released on Thursday.
According to the agency, countries will spend a whopping 1.8 trillion dollars this year importing food they require, a new world record, but it will buy them less food.
According to the FAO, the development indicated that for some nations, the situation could signal “the end of their resilience to higher prices.”
Farmers’ rising fixed expenses of so-called “agricultural inputs” like fertilizer and fuel are expected to be to blame for this year’s higher-than-ever global food import bill.
“In view of the soaring input prices, concerns about the weather, and increased market uncertainties stemming from the war in Ukraine, FAO’s latest forecasts point to a likely tightening of food markets.
“It points to likely tightening of food markets and food import bills reaching a new record high,” FAO economist, Upali Galketi Aratchilage, said.
According to the UN agency, all but two billion dollars of the additional 51 billion dollars spent globally on edible imports in 2022 will be due to increasing pricing.
Animal fats and vegetable oils, according to the FAO economist, would be the single biggest contributor to increasing import bills, albeit cereals were not far behind for affluent countries.
“Developing countries, as a whole, are reducing imports of cereals, oilseeds and meat, which reflects their incapacity to cover the increase in prices,” said Aratchilage.
Least Developed Countries, according to the FAO, will have little choice but to spend 5% less on food imports this year.
If Sub-Saharan African countries and other countries buy more food than they sell, their expenses will rise, and they will receive fewer critical supplies.
“These are alarming signs from a food security perspective,” FAO said, warning that importers would find it difficult to finance rising international costs and that these could, potentially, break them.
The UN agency has advocated the introduction of a balance-of-payments support mechanism to help low-income countries avoid even more food insecurity and to ensure food imports.
The FAO research also revealed that global cereal production will fall for the first time in four years in 2022.
However, this is not likely to have an impact on human cereal consumption, but rather on the amount of wheat, coarse grains, and rice used in animal feed.
In 2022, world wheat stocks are expected to rise “marginally,” thanks to bigger reserves expected in China, Russia, and Ukraine.
Maize harvests and demand are expected to hit new highs, owing to increased ethanol production in Brazil and the United States, as well as industrial starch manufacturing in China.
