The World Trade Organization (WTO) has urged G20 nations to lift the export restrictions on food, feed and fertilizers that are disrupting the global food supply and causing price volatility.
The WTO made this appeal in its Trade Monitoring Report on G20 trade measures, released on Monday.
The report covers the period from mid-October 2022 to mid-May 2023, during which the world faced multiple challenges such as the war in Ukraine, the COVID-19 pandemic, extreme weather and high food and energy prices.
WTO Director-General, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, expressed her concern about the impact of export restrictions on food security and affordability, especially for the most vulnerable populations.
She said: “It is welcome that G20 economies have been taking more steps to facilitate imports, underscoring how trade is a tool to push back against inflationary pressures. I call on them to show leadership by continuing to reduce the number and trade coverage of export restrictions, particularly on food, feed and fertilizers, to help
dampen the price volatility that makes life harder for people around the world. G20 economies must continue to show restraint in implementing trade-restrictive measures and exercise leadership in supporting open and mutually beneficial trade.”
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According to the report, G20 economies introduced more trade-facilitating than trade-restrictive measures on goods during the review period, mostly on imports. The trade coverage of G20 trade-facilitating measures was estimated at USD 691.9 billion, while that of trade-restrictive measures was USD 88 billion.
However, the report also noted that there was no sign of a rollback of the accumulated stockpile of G20 import restrictions introduced since the global financial crisis. By the end of 2022, 11.1 per cent of G20 imports were affected by import restrictions implemented since 2009
and still in force.
The report also highlighted the increase in export restrictions by WTO members since 2020, first in response to the pandemic and later due to the war in Ukraine and the food security crisis. As of mid-May 2023, WTO members still had 63 export restrictions in place on food, feed and fertilizers, down from the total of 101 that had been introduced since the beginning of the war in Ukraine.
In addition, 21 COVID-19-related export restrictions remained in force. Of these, G20
economies were maintaining 19 of the export restrictions on food, feed and fertilizers and 12 of the pandemic-related export restrictions.
The report also provided an overview of world merchandise trade, which slumped during the fourth quarter of 2022 and appeared to have remained below trend in the first quarter of 2023. World merchandise trade volume growth is expected to slow from 2.7 per cent in 2022 to 1.7 per cent in 2023, before picking up to 3.2 per cent in 2024.
Regarding services trade, the report indicated that some 34 new measures were introduced by G20 economies during the review period, mostly of a trade-facilitating nature.
