Food imports will add a record of almost two trillion dollars in 2022 due to inflation
The world food import bill will increase to 1.94 trillion dollars in 2022, an amount that exceeds the projections that had been made, reported this Friday the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
The figure, which would mark an all-time high and would represent an increase of 10% compared to the record level of 2021, would be the result, above all, of the inflation registered at the global level, especially in the prices of energy and fertilizers.
The FAO explained that most of the increase corresponds to high-income countries, which will also increase import volumes. Meanwhile, the bill for low-income countries would remain unchanged, although in volume terms it would drop by a tenth, highlighting the growing lack of access of these nations to world food markets.
The director of the FAO’s Markets and Trade Division, Boubaker Ben-Belhassen, stated that this scenario is “an alarming sign from the perspective of food security, indicating that importers are finding it difficult to finance rising international costs, and that could herald the end of their resistance to higher international prices.”
“There are reasons for serious concerns. Rising import bills for farm inputs add to rising import bills for food products particularly for countries in the lower income categories, which together with the strong dollar, are putting a lot of additional fiscal pressure on these countries. ”, pointed out Ben-Belhassen.
Despite this scenario, the FAO estimates that there could be some relief in world food market conditions in 2023, although not without increased uncertainty.
Chemical plant in Minamata, Japan
Large-scale reductions in emissions from cement, steel, chemical and petrochemical companies are urgently needed to achieve climate goals
The world will not be able to limit global temperature rise to 1.5ºC by the end of the century if the steel, chemical, petrochemical and cement industries do not act quickly and on a large scale to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, warns a new report of the UN regional commissions.
The study indicates that these sectors generate 25% of total CO2 emissions and 66% of those of the entire industry.
Cement, iron, steel, and chemical and petrochemical products are the backbone of modern economies and mark the starting point of many industrial value chains, providing both raw and processed materials, but there are pathways for them to transit at a carbon-neutral economy while maintaining or even improving its competitiveness, says the report, urging companies in these sectors to act without delay.
Among the ways to follow to accelerate the reduction of emissions, the UN lists, among others, developing innovative technologies, adopting the concepts of circular carbon economy, developing institutional capacity to support the transition towards clean industries, promoting public-private partnerships and foster regional cooperation.
Displaced family collecting water during the winter in Kabul, Afghanistan.
Displaced families will face great hardship this winter
The harsh conditions of the approaching winter will add to the scourges already suffered by millions of people who have been forced to flee their homes because of conflict or persecution, warned the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR).
Rising food and energy prices, the prolonged impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, extreme weather events due to the climate crisis, and winter will force many displaced families to choose between food and warmth, with difficulties heating their homes, getting warm clothes and cooking hot food.
According to UNHCR, the coming winter will be a much greater challenge than in recent years for displaced people from Ukraine, Afghanistan and the Middle East.
The Agency estimates, for example, that 3.4 million Syrian and Iraqi refugees and internally displaced people in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Egypt will need basic assistance to prepare for and cope with winter.
In Afghanistan, in addition to the deep humanitarian crisis that is already affecting the population, displacements due to flash floods and droughts continue to occur in different areas.
The millions of displaced Ukrainians, for their part, have lost their livelihoods and face bitter cold and continuous cuts to electricity, heating and water supplies.
UNHCR noted that despite increasing humanitarian needs, funding for relief operations remains insufficient, and has recently been forced to reduce essential programs in several countries.
The UN Agency is running a global winter fundraising campaign whose funds will go to help displaced families in Afghanistan, the Middle East and Ukraine.
