Export controls could exacerbate the global food crisis

Governments are risking a repeat of mistakes in previous food crises by imposing export controls amid spiraling commodity and energy prices, the head of the World Trade Organization has said.

The Russia-Ukraine war has caused commodity and energy prices to skyrocket in recent weeks, leading many countries to respond with export restrictions as they look to secure their domestic needs.

So far, 12 WTO member countries have imposed export restrictions on staple food commodities, including wheat, flour, oils and corn.

World Trade Organization (WTO) Director General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is urging countries to drop these controls and offer their surplus stock of basic commodities such as vegetable oil and grains to the world market to ease supply shortages.

“I do hope we have learned something” from the previous global food crisis in 2007-2008, Okonjo-Iweala said, referring to a period in which problems were caused by droughts in key wheat and rice-producing countries, along with a surge in the cost of energy. 

“The signs we see now don’t show that learning very much, because we’re having the same situation of spiking food prices, spiking energy prices and an emerging spiral.”

On the other hand, Ukraine has sent off the first shipment of corn to Europe via train, as its ports remain closed, signaling that efforts are being made to continue trade amid the war, writes Reuters.

The Ukraine war has put intense stress on the WTO as a negotiating forum, as divisions between Russia and a coalition of mainly rich governments supporting Ukraine have spilled over into talks.

Those governments have issued a statement in the WTO denouncing Moscow, blocked Belarus’s application to join the institution and withdrawn so-called “most-favored nation” status for Russia, enabling them to impose higher tariffs on Russian goods than on other members of the organization.