FAO: COVID-19 Would Affect Food Markets

Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Thursday said COVID-19 would impact the food markets due to the pandemic influence on worldwide on production lines.

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"The impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic have been felt - at varying degrees - across all food sectors assessed by FAO. Whilst COVID-19 has posed a serious threat to food security, overall, our analysis shows that from the global perspective, agricultural commodity markets are proving to be more resilient to the pandemic than many other sectors,” said FAO’s Director of Trade and Markets Division, Boubaker Ben-Belhassen.

As the FAO’s Food Outlook report forecasts, cereal supply could cover international demand, as prospects suggest that grain production would exceed 2019’s crops in 2.6 percent.

According to FAO, international meat production would decrease by 1.7 percent, because of pandemic harm on workers, transportation, and production lines. Besides, animal diseases and climate variations could affect cattle breeding.

As the organization stated, ovine, poultry, pig and bovine meats’ prices dropped in 2020 due to COVID-19 precautionary restrictions on meat processing facilities. Despite the pessimist previsions, FAO also reports international meat trade could discretely grow due to China’s high importations.

Oil, milk, and sugar markets would contract and operate on importer demand.

Owing to the size of the challenge and the enormous uncertainties associated with it, the international community must remain vigilant and ready to react, if and when necessary," Boubaker said.

As of Wednesday morning, Worldwide Health authorities reported 7,499,450 COVID-19 cases 419,950 deaths, and 3,806,196 recoveries from the virus.