Food import bill will reach record

The global food import bill will rise this year to 1.94 trillion dollars, an increase of 10% compared to 2021, due to the increase in prices, according to estimates by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). , for its acronym in English).

The billing of imports of agricultural inputs and particularly fertilizers would increase 48%, added the FAO, which fears dramatic consequences for the most vulnerable countries that suffer from food insecurity.

In its biannual food outlook report, the UN agency warns that poor importing countries will pay more and get less.

Most of the increase in the bill is due to high-income countries, who will increase the volumes purchased no matter how high the prices are.

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On the other hand, the most vulnerable countries disbursed an amount similar to that of last year to buy food, but with a 10% decrease in volume.

Sub-Saharan Africa, which suffers from malnutrition, will spend an additional 4.8 billion dollars for its food imports, even though the volumes imported will be lower.

The general increase in the food bill is directly related to the war in Ukraine, although the first major increase in this wave of price increases occurred with the economic recovery after the Covid-19 pandemic.

The conflict sparked in late February with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, two agricultural superpowers that account for 30% of the world’s wheat trade and 78% of sunflower oil exports.

In importing countries, the rise in prices is aggravated by the depreciation of their currencies against the dollar, the main currency in international markets.

Importers are finding it difficult to finance rising international prices, which may herald the end of their resistance to rising prices around the world,” the organization noted.

This will inevitably lead to lower productivity, less food availability at the national level and negative repercussions for global agricultural production and food security for the coming year, according to the report.