MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 16th July, 2020) The COVID-19 pandemic complicates positive medium-term predictions regarding the situation in the global agricultural sector by depressing demand and is likely to further upset food security down the road, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said on Thursday.
"The joint OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook 2020-2029 report finds that over the next ten years supply growth is going to outpace demand growth, causing real prices of most commodities to remain at or below their current levels. Fluctuations in the driving factors of supply and demand could lead to strong price variations around this general path. At the same time, a decrease in disposable incomes in low-income countries and households caused by COVID-19 is expected to depress demand in the early years of this outlook and could further undermine food security," the organization said in a statement.
According to the report, the pandemic disrupts trade and logistics, affecting all elements of the global food system, while also causing a loss of purchasing power of people around the globe, leading to a decrease in food consumption, despite lowered food prices.
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, global supply chains remain paralyzed by the governments' efforts to contain the virus, impeding usual economic processes.
