Thumbnail Image

Food import risk in Malawi: simulating a hedging scheme for Malawi food imports using historical data

Year of publication 2006

Pages 43

Author Wouter Zant;Trade and Markets Division

Product type Book (stand-alone)

Series title FAO Commodity and Trade Policy Research Working Paper

Edition 1

Synopsis (short abstract) During the 1980s and 1990s least developed countries (LDCs) encountered increasing difficulties in maintaining national food security. By the turn of the century commercial food import bills reached unprecedented heights in terms of domestic food consumption. The already precarious state of food security has been aggravated by occasional spikes in food import prices. Additionally, food aid has been reduced substantially by the donor community. The combination of these three developments ‑ declin es in food aid, increased commercial food imports and occasional spikes in food import prices ‑ have caused a significant increase in the vulnerability of these countries. These circumstances have motivated a further and intensified investigation of policy instruments that can reduce the impact of volatile food import prices. The use of financial derivatives as instruments to hedge risks particularly deserves further exploration since these instruments are possibly cheap and do not distort physi cal markets. An integral part of this study is the exploration of ways in which the use of such instruments may be embedded in existing food import marketing and financial arrangements. While food import risks have not been a large part of the recent policy debate, it is likely that the increase in the LDCs food import bill and the increasing difficulties of LDCs to meet their food security requirements will become a major issue in the near and medium term future.

Language English

Also available in:
No results found.

Related items

Showing items related by metadata.

  • Thumbnail Image
    Brochure, flyer, fact-sheet
    National stakeholder consultation on strengthening national capacity for risk-based food import control within a One Health framework in the Philippines
    Summary report
    2018
    Also available in:
    No results found.
    This report is the output of the one-day stakeholder consultation meeting on strengthening the national capacity for risk-based food import control within One Health framework in the Philippines, held in Quezon City, the Philippines on 21 February 2018. It was attended by 43 participants working in relevant areas to imported food controls from 12 agencies of the government of the Philippines and 2 private sectors. A draft national situation report outlining the strengths, gaps and potential areas for improvement of imported food control system in the Philippines was presented by national consultants. The consultation has discussed and verified the information introduced in the report, made recommendations and agreed on the follow up actions towards an effective risk-based imported food control system in the country.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Book (stand-alone)
    Why has Africa become a net food importer? - Explaining Africa agricultural and food trade deficits 2011
    Also available in:
    No results found.
    ...High-income countries in Africa had high net food imports per capita, but they did not have problems paying for their large food imports because they had ample sources of foreign currencies. [...] Conversely, low-income countries imported less food per capita, but their agricultural export revenues, or even sometimes, their total merchandise export revenues, could not cover their relatively small food import bills.... .... [[The] stagnation of per capita net food imports c ontrasts the steady and sharp increase in total net food imports [...] and confirms that the population increase played an important role in the increase in Africa’s import demand for food ... Much has been said about domestic production not being able to meet domestic demand fully, but the relatively small shares of net food imports in GDP were signs that domestic food production has played a significant role in feeding the growing African population. Still, the weakness of do mestic production especially for Sub-Saharan Africa lies mainly in its inability to deal with an eventual sustained increase in per capita consumption. Unless food production per capita increases or unless many surplus areas in the continent are connected to the market, any sharp increase in per capita consumption, because of, say, a sudden increase in income or a dramatic change in dietary pattern in the low income will only be met by an increase in food imports.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Book (series)
    Food Outlook: Biannual Report on Global Food Markets. October 2016 2016
    Also available in:
    From a global perspective, food markets are expected to remain generally well balanced in 2016/17 amid large export availabilities and relatively low and more stable international prices, especially for cereals. The world food import bill is set to dip to a six-year low, while still remaining above the USD 1 trillion mark.
Show more

Users also downloaded

Showing related downloaded files

No results found.