WTO Members Advised To Not Put Trade Restrictions Following A Year Of War

12 August 2023
Global Trade Data

WTO members have continued to promote the implementation of importation restrictions’ withdrawal, WTO’s authorities claimed in a recent event that curbs on food still exist making it harder for many countries to grapple with the challenges such as inflation and rising prices. WTO has been making efforts to bring together the member countries and bring down the number of export restrictions on food, feed, and fertilizers. While the export restrictions on these essential commodities have declined after notices were issued by WTO, restrictions still exist.

 

Trade Following The Pandemic

 

Following the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a complete shutdown of trade activities due to lockdown restrictions and safety measures. However, the trade restrictions were lifted in the immediate aftermath of the outbreak, around the second half of 2020.

 

WTO report indicates that the frequency of the implementation of several import and export restrictions was escalated by members to restrict access to COVID-19 in their respective countries. Since then, the number of restrictions has only increased, albeit issuing the notices.

Top Countries Import For Food and Agro-Based Products – Quarterly Trends [Pandemic]

Country

Q1-2020

Q2-2020

Q3-2020

Q4-2020

Q1-2021

United States of America

23.20

24.03

26.41

26.72

25.44

Germany

13.13

12.43

13.69

14.53

14.08

United Kingdom

9.57

9.75

10.81

12.02

9.45

France

9.18

8.97

10.39

10.20

10.22

 

Value USD Billion

 


The charts shown above and below feature the top 4 importing and exporting countries for the commodities related to food and agriculture, majorly circling around the consumable items. The values are featured on a quarterly basis and provide information on trade following the outbreak.

Top Countries Export For Food and Agro-Based Products – Quarterly Trends [Pandemic]

Country

Q1-2020

Q2-2020

Q3-2020

Q4-2020

Q1-2021

United States of America

14.36

13.60

14.10

15.23

15.48

Germany

14.91

13.66

15.66

15.97

16.11

United Kingdom

5.36

4.58

5.93

6.46

4.26

France

11.08

10.24

12.26

13.42

12.69

 

Value USD Billion

 

 

Trade Following The Inflation

 

Majorly developed and developing economies both faced the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, which brought higher demands for commodities but lower supplies because of the sluggish production due to the imposed restrictions on manufacturing and trade activities.

 

The rising prices of major commodities brought the wave of inflation in many countries around the world such as the USA, UK, Germany, France, Pakistan, and India. The rising rates of inflation were recorded throughout the year, fluctuating in between but impacting the economies.

 

The commodities produced by a country had to be safeguarded within the country by restricting any kind of exports which might lead to a shortage along with high prices, leading to further aggravating the prices of the commodities required, decreasing the purchasing power.

Top Countries Import For Food and Agro-Based Products – Quarterly Trends [Inflation]

Country

Q1-2021

Q2-2021

Q3-2021

Q4-2021

Q1-2022

United States of America

25.44

31.75

31.92

32.03

31.70

Germany

14.08

14.77

14.69

15.29

14.77

United Kingdom

9.45

10.69

11.39

11.56

12.12

France

10.22

11.45

11.41

11.50

11.35

 

Value USD Billion

 


The charts shown above and below feature the top 4 importing and exporting countries for the food items and commodities related to agricultural products, dealing only in the consumables. The values are featured on a quarterly basis to show trade following the global inflation 2021.

Top Countries Export For Food and Agro-Based Products – Quarterly Trends [Inflation]

Country

Q1-2021

Q2-2021

Q3-2021

Q4-2021

Q1-2022

United States of America

15.48

16.53

16.37

17.16

16.98

Germany

16.11

16.79

17.12

17.07

16.84

United Kingdom

4.26

5.40

5.59

5.82

6.02

France

12.69

14.92

14.38

14.81

14.24

 

Value USD Billion

 

 

Trade Following The Invasion

 

WTO official records show that there are about 59 measures involving export restrictions that are currently active since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, out of 104 export restrictions imposed on food, feed and fertilizers, impacting trade worth around $24.5 billion.

 

These restrictions have only increased further following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. During this period, WTO members come in hand with about 182 trade-facilitated measures and about 110 trade-restricted measures, as per the official records of WTO.

 

Most of these trade-facilitated measures were composed of importation cases, while most of these trade-restricted measures were composed of exportation cases. WTO monitoring reveals that the number of new export restrictions outpaced the number of new import restrictions.

Top Countries Import For Food and Agro-Based Products – Quarterly Trends [Invasion]

Country

Q1-2022

Q2-2022

Q3-2022

Q4-2022

Q1-2023

United States of America

31.70

37.79

35.23

34.17

32.08

Germany

14.77

15.67

15.15

16.39

16.32

United Kingdom

12.12

12.53

11.96

12.64

12.39

France

11.35

11.91

11.72

11.89

12.35

 

Value USD Billion

 


The charts shown above and below feature the top 4 importing and exporting countries for the commodities related to food and agro-based products, consisting of all the consumable items. The featured quarterly values provide a comprehensive view of trade following the invasion.

Top Countries Export For Food and Agro-Based Products – Quarterly Trends [Invasion]

Country

Q1-2022

Q2-2022

Q3-2022

Q4-2022

Q1-2023

United States of America

16.98

18.31

17.88

17.28

17.10

Germany

16.84

17.41

17.56

17.98

18.63

United Kingdom

6.02

6.27

6.51

6.58

5.88

France

14.24

15.00

14.35

14.57

14.74

 

Value USD Billion

 


While values conclude a troublesome state of the trade between the countries, however, according to the WTO review, measures since the pandemic in 2020, following the global inflation in 2021 and the Russo-Ukrainian war in 2022 were majorly for aiding global trade.

 

As per the observation of figures since the pandemic, among the imposed 454 measures, about 55.3% of cases were of facilitating nature, while only 44.7% were of restrictive measures. Despite the lower restrictions, WTO is concerned with the export restrictions on essential goods.

 

In the recent event, WTO also pointed out the recent withdrawal of Russia from the Black Sea Grain Initiative that allowed Ukrainian shipments to export grains and other food items from the Black Sea; citing it as one of the recent significant incidents that need all of our attention.

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