Page 64 - bne magazine July 2022_20220704

64 I Eastern Europe bne July 2022
Russia and Ukraine are also responsible for 29% of globally traded barley and 15% of maize.
The globalisation of agriculture
The most exported agricultural products nowadays include wheat,
rice, corn, barley, rapeseed, soybeans, sunflower seeds, palm oil and bananas. Some of those crops are particularly suited to specific climates. Whereas wheat is a versatile crop grown across Europe, Asia and North America, bananas are better suited to tropical regions.
Globalisation has led to some climate- specific crops being domesticated in foreign markets. Technological advances in agriculture mean that some plants can be cultivated in non-native soils, while transportation allows other crops to be taken to far-flung markets. A study in 2016 found that more than two-thirds of agri- cultural products in the world’s national diets originated from a far-away region.
Cereals are particularly versatile crops, and can be cultivated in a range of climates. Corn is the most produced agricultural commodity globally (1.1bn tonnes of the crop were produced in 2020), followed by wheat with 760.9mn tonnes and rice (756.7mn tonnes).
Agricultural superpowers
Agriculture accounts for 4.3% of global GDP. But with the effects of climate change (such as unseasonably heavy rains during planting season in China and a heatwave in India), geopolitical crises (such as the war in Ukraine) and an apparent trend for deglobalisation and protectionism, this figure is in jeopardy. And with supply of domesticated crops
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set to drop, price rises risk creating mass malnutrition or starvation.
Russia is one of the world’s five
biggest food producers. In addition to encouraging Russia to lift its blockade of the Black Sea and finding alternative ways to export Ukrainian crops, the remaining agricultural superpowers must lift barriers to trade in the interests of global food security.
In 2020, half of global agricultural production came from Asia. China and India are both crucial players in agriculture. Both are top ten countries for agricultural exports too.
China is the world’s biggest wheat producer, producing 134.2mn tonnes of wheat in 2020 alone, worth $53.4bn. Much of that wheat is reserved for China’s domestic market, however. India, meanwhile, is the second-largest producer, harvesting over 107.5mn tonnes of the cereal in 2020. They will therefore be the most important players in plugging any Russia-sized gap which could develop in the global wheat market.
In 2020, China was the top producer of more than 30 crops, including tomatoes, rice and potatoes. Rice is China’s
most produced crop overall – totalling 353.1mn tonnes in 2020. In 2020, China’s agricultural production was valued at $1.1 trillion, a record high. Because it produces 25% of the world’s grain, China is a key player in global food security.
The US, meanwhile, is the world’s largest agricultural exporter, with exports valued at $147.9bn in 2020.
In particular, it is a big exporter of corn, rice, wheat, sorghum and apples.
Notably, the US is the world’s biggest grower of corn, producing around $52bn worth of the crop per year, according
to the University of the Potomac. In combination, the US, China and Brazil grow about two-thirds of the world’s corn.
There are other crucial players for specific crops too: Germany is the world’s biggest producer of milk, while Latin American countries lead the world in sugarcane harvests.
The temptation for these agricultural powerhouses will be to place restrictions on food exports as the prospects for food security continue to worsen. Indeed, over 20 countries have already imposed export bans on certain agricultural commodities, including Turkey and Argentina. To overcome the danger of millions going hungry, they must do the opposite, and relax restrictions on trade. Indonesia recently lifted a ban on exporting palm oil, a promising precedent. Officials around the world will hope that this
is the beginning of a détente, not the exception which proves the rule.”