The global coronavirus pandemic could cause further disruption to global food trade and trigger a new food crisis, a Chinese agricultural official said on Monday (21.04.2020).
The statements come at a time when the COVID-19 pandemic is severely affecting global agricultural supply chains, after some countries restricted exports of essential grains and increased purchases of cereals for their reserves.
«This rapidly expanding global epidemic has created great uncertainty around international agricultural trade and markets."said Yu Kangzhen, China's vice minister of agriculture.
«If the epidemic continues to spread and increase in scale, the impact on international food trade and production will definitely worsen and could trigger a new food crisis."Yu said during a video conference on the country's agricultural outlook.
The pandemic and measures taken by some countries to secure domestic supplies have hampered trade and supply flows and caused some significant price fluctuations, Yu added.
The coronavirus pandemic, which began in the Chinese city of Wuhan late last year, has infected 2,3 million people and caused around 159.000 deaths worldwide.
Strict restrictions and lockdown measures imposed to control coronavirus outbreaks have disrupted China's supply chains and made it difficult for many industries to find enough workers, slowing poultry and pig farming in the world's most important meat market.
Although China has sufficient grain reserves to meet domestic demand, some other agricultural products that depend on imports, such as Soybeans and edible oils may be affected due to the global pandemic, Yu said.
Source: Reuters
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