FAO/GIEWS - Food Outlook, April 1998

FOOD AID^1/

• Cereal food aid shipments likely to increase in 1997/98
• Aggregate Contributions to IEFR and PROs Increased in 1997 for Cereals

Cereal food aid shipments likely to increase in 1997/98

Global cereal food aid shipments in 1997/98 (July/June) are now forecast to increase to around 5.5 million tonnes (Table A10) about 13 percent above the reduced 1996/97 level. While information on food aid allocations provided to FAO by individual donor countries is incomplete, an increase in the number of food emergencies this year, compared to last year, and recent adjustments in food aid provisions made by the United States point to larger cereal food aid shipments in 1997/98. Partly in response to the Asian financial crisis, the United States recently raised its funding under the Title I of the PL480 programme to allow increased wheat and rice shipments to Indonesia and the Philippines, among others.

Aggregate Contributions to IEFR and PROs Increased in 1997 for Cereals

As of December 1997, contributions of cereals to the International Emergency Food Reserve (IEFR) administered by the World Food Programme (WFP) increased by almost 12 percent in 1997 to 993 000 tonnes, from 887 000 tonnes in 1996. For non-cereals, the contributions fell from 225 000 tonnes in 1996 to 167 000 tons in 1997 (Table A11). Furthermore, cereal contributions to the Protracted Refugee Operations (PROs), also administered by WFP, increased marginally in 1997 amounting to 529 000 tonnes over the 528 00 tonnes in 1996. The PROs contribution for non-cereals fell by about 20 000 tonnes to 70 000 tonnes in 1997.