WTO Members Advised To Not Put Trade Restrictions Following A Year Of War
12 August 2023
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.