Global supplies and a strong US dollar are keeping international food prices under downward pressure. The outlook for the coming season is unlikely to diverge much from the current situation, but currency movements and macroeconomic developments may have important implications for markets gain in 2015/16. Against this backdrop, the world food import bill is forecast to reach a five-year low in 2015.

The FAO/GIEWS Country Cereal Balance System (CCBS) is a database of annual supply and utilization balances for main cereals, covering all countries of the world. It has been maintained by FAO/GIEWS since 1980 and is updated on a continual basis. This statistical report, which is a subset of CCBS data, presents the current-year cereal supply and demand balances for all sub-Saharan African countries, highlighting cereal import and food aid requirements...

Prolonged dry weather associated with the current El Niño event reduces the 2015 output of the main season crops. Aggregate 2015 maize production of the subregion’s four major producing countries is tentatively forecast by FAO to fall 8 percent from the previous year’s already reduced level, but sharper declines are expected in most-affected El Salvador and Honduras. Imports of maize in the 2015/16 marketing year (September/August) are set to increase...

Global trade in agricultural and food products has grown rapidly in recent decades, with countries becoming more engaged in this trade, whether as exporters or importers. This trend is expected to continue over the coming decades. As a consequence, trade will play an increasingly important role in influencing the extent and nature of food security across all regions of the globe. The challenge has therefore become one of ensuring that...

The size and distribution of the impacts of agricultural trade matter to traders and, more important, to upstream links, including farmers and workers whose income depends on agricultural trade revenues. Because it is generally firms, not countries, that practice trade, the size and distribution of the impacts of agricultural trade in developing countries are better examined at the firm and industry level. The main purpose of the studies compiled in...

This book collects the findings of a group of scientists and economists who have taken stock of climate change impacts on food and agriculture at global and regional levels over the past two decades. The evidence presented describes how global warming will impact where and how food is produced and discusses the significant consequences for food security, health and nutrition, water scarcity and climate adaptation. The book also highlights the...

International prices of maize declined significantly in August, more than offsetting the previous months’ increases. Wheat quotations also dropped on ample global supplies. International prices of rice from most origins decreased. In general, cereal prices in August were below their year‑earlier levels. In East Africa, prices of coarse grains increased sharply in August in the United Republic of Tanzania, due to a reduced output this year, and in Kenya and...