Food export restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic: Real and potential effects on food security

No.	Country	Product	Implementation date	Duration in days
1	Algeria	Semolina, flour, pulses and rice, pasta, oils, sugar, coffee, mineral water, tomato paste, food preparations, milk in all its forms including those intended for children, fresh vegetables and fruits with the exception of dates, red and white meats	V 2020	30
2	Argentina	Maize	XII 2020	60
3	Armenia	Onions, garlic, turnips, rye, rice, buckwheat, millet, cereals, wholemeal and granules from cereal grains, peeled buckwheat, foods prepared from buckwheat, and crushed and uncrushed soybeans	III 2020	81
3	Armenia	Sunflower seeds	VII 2020	61
4	Belarus	Onions, garlic, buckwheat	III 2020	90
		Turnips, rye, rice, millet, cereals, wholemeal and granules from cereal grains, peeled buckwheat, foods prepared from buckwheat, and crushed and uncrushed soybeans	III 2020	81
		Sunflower seeds	VII 2020	61
5	Cambodia	Rice, white rice	III 2020	44
6	Egypt	All pulses, excluding kidney beans	III 2020	30
7	El Salvador	Red beans	III 2020	280
8	Gambia	Rice, sugar, wheat flour, maize flour, millet, fish, vegetables, oils	III 2020	107
9	Ghana	Soybeans	IV 2020	30
10	Honduras	Red beans	III 2020	60
11	Kazakhstan	Buckwheat	III 2020	59
		Potatoes	III 2020	47
		Wheat, rye, including flours and sugar, carrots, turnips, beets, onions, cabbages, sunflower seeds and oil	III 2020	9
		Onions, garlic, turnips, rye, rice, buckwheat, millet, cereals, wholemeal and granules from cereal grains, peeled buckwheat, foods prepared from buckwheat, and crushed and uncrushed soybeans	III 2020	81
		Sunflower seeds	VII 2020	61
12	Kyrgyzstan	Wheat, flour, vegetable oil, sugar, chicken eggs, rice, pasta, onions, garlic, turnips, rye, rice, buckwheat, millet, cereals, wholemeal and granules from cereal grains, peeled buckwheat, foods prepared from buckwheat	III 2020	182
		Crushed and uncrushed soybeans, potatoes	III 2020	61
		Sunflower seeds	VII 2020	81
13	Moldova	Grains	IV 2020	12
14	Myanmar	Rice	III 2020	195
15	North Macedonia	Wheat, meslin	III 2020	38
16	Pakistan	Onions, wheat	III 2020	67
17	Romania	Wheat, barley, oat, maize, rice, wheat flour, soybean, sunflower, seed oil, sugar, and some bakery and pastry products	IV 2020	6
18	Russia	Processed grains, turnips, rye, rice, buckwheat, millet, cereals, wholemeal and granules from cereal grains, peeled buckwheat, foods prepared from buckwheat, crushed and uncrushed soybeans, meslin	III 2020	40
		Onions, garlic, wheat	III 2020	90
		Sunflower seeds	VII 2020	61
19	Serbia	Sunflower oil, molasses, yeast	III 2020	30
20	Sudan	Maize	IV 2020	170
21	South Africa	Spirits	III 2020	12
		Wine	III 2020	14
		Beer	III 2020	21
22	Syria	Eggs, cheese and yogurt, canned and packed cereals and beans	VIII 2020	30
23	Tajikistan	Maize, rice, wheat	IV 2020	153
24	Thailand	Chicken egg	III 2020	7
25	Turkey	Lemon	VIII 2020	145
26	Ukraine	Buckwheat	IV 2020	89
26	Ukraine	Wheat	IV 2020	57
27	Vietnam	Rice	IV 2020	20

[i] Source: Own elaboration based on previous works [Laborde et al., 2020b; International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), 2022].

Table 2

Food export restrictions implemented in 2007–2008

No.	Country	Product	Implementation date	Duration in days
1	Argentina	Wheat	III 2008	57
		Rice	III 2008	34
		Soybeans, corn, beef	IV 2008	42
		Grains and oilseeds, soy and sunflower seed, oilseeds and cereal, bovine meat	IV 2008	42
2	Bangladesh	Rice, soybeans, and palm oil	IV 2008	182
3	Bolivia	Maize	IX 2007	360
3	Bolivia	Vegetable, grain, and meat	IV 2008	150
4	Brazil	Rice	IV 2008	N/A
5	Cambodia	Rice	IV 2008	60
6	China	Rice, maize, grain powder products	I 2008	270
6	China	Wheat, buckwheat, barley, oats	III 2008	153
7	Ecuador	Rice	I 2008	90
8	Egypt	Rice	IV 2008	182
9	Ethiopia	Cereals, grain	II 2008	90
10	India	Milk powder	XII 2007	N/A
		Maize, non-basmati rice, wheat, and edible oils	III 2008	221
		Pulses	III 2008	365
		Rice	IX 2008	60
11	Indonesia	Key agricultural commodities	IV 2008	153
12	Iran	Wheat	V 2008	27
13	Kazakhstan	Wheat, sunflower seeds, cereals	II 2008	180
14	Madagascar	Rice	V 2008	34
15	Malaysia	Flour	III 2009	30
16	Myanmar	Rice	V 2008	182
17	Nepal	Paddy rice, wheat	IV 2008	192
18	Niger	Key agricultural commodities	III 2008	135
19	Pakistan	Wheat and wheat products	IV 2008	157
20	Russia	Wheat	II 2008	240
21	Tanzania	Key agricultural commodities	II 2008	85
22	Thailand	Rice	VII 2008	N/A
23	Vietnam	Rice	III 2008	90
24	Zambia	Maize	I 2008	243

[i] Sources: Own elaboration based on: [FEWS NET Zambia, 2008a, 2008b; USAID, 2008; Meatz et al., 2011; USDA, 2011; Liapis, 2013; WTO, 2015a, 2015b, 2018c; DG Trade, 2016; ATA, 2019].

[ii] ATA, Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Agency; FEWS NET, Famine Early Warning Systems Network; N/A, no data available; USAID, United States Agency for International Development; USDA, United States Department of Agriculture; WTO, World Trade Organization.

Countries imposing food export restrictions in 2008 and/or in 2020.
*Note*: Countries that introduced food export restrictions in both periods, viz., 2007–2008 and 2020 – colored with dark blue; countries that introduced such restrictions in 2007–2008 alone – medium blue; countries that introduced the restrictions in 2020 alone – light blue.
*Source*: Own elaboration based on Tables 1 and 2.

Table 3

Changes in GFSI scores of countries that imposed food export restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic

Country	GFSI
Country	2020	2021	Change 2021/2020
Algeria	61.6	63.9	+2.3
Argentina	63.1	64.2	+1.1
Armenia	N/A	N/A	N/A
Belarus	70.4	70.9	+0.5
Cambodia	51.3	53	+1.7
Egypt	59.8	60.8	+1.0
El Salvador	57.8	59.5	+1.7
Gambia	N/A	N/A	N/A
Ghana	52.8	52.0	−0.8
Honduras	58.1	59.4	+1.3
Kazakhstan	71.9	69.2	+2.7
Kyrgyzstan	N/A	N/A	N/A
Moldova	N/A	N/A	N/A
Myanmar	54.0	56.7	+2.7
North Macedonia	N/A	N/A	N/A
Pakistan	55.7	54.7	−1.0
Romania	73.8	72.4	−1.4
Russia	73.9	74.8	+0.9
Serbia	61.2	61.4	−0.2
Sudan	36.4	37.1	+0.7
South Africa	58.0	57.8	−0.2
Syria	39.5	37.8	−1.7
Tajikistan	52.5	51.6	−0.9
Thailand	63.6	64.5	+0.9
Turkey	61.2	65.1	+3.9
Ukraine	58.8	62.0	+3.2
Vietnam	62.7	61.1	−1.6

[i] Source: Own elaboration based on reports [EI, 2022].

[ii] EI, Economic Impact; GFSI, Global Food Security Index; N/A, no data available.

References

Authors

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Articles in this issue

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/ijme-2022-0023 | Journal eISSN: 2543-5361 (formerly 2299-9701) | Journal ISSN: 2299-9701

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Language: English

Page range: 409 - 424

Submitted on: Jul 7, 2022

Accepted on: Nov 4, 2022

Published on: Dec 31, 2022

Published by: SGH Warsaw School of Economics

In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services

Publication frequency: 4 issues per year

Keywords:

COVID-19,

FAO food price index,

food export restrictions,

food security,

WTO

JEL:

F02,

F13,

Q18

Related subjects:

Business and economics,

Business management,

Management accounting, financial controlling, cost calculation, investment

© 2022 Aleksandra Kowalska, Anna Budzyńska, Tomasz Białowąs, published by SGH Warsaw School of Economics
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Volume 58 (2022): Issue 4 (December 2022)

Food export restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic: Real and potential effects on food security

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