Trade and food standards. This brief emphasizes the importance of applying international food safety standards, and how these standards are applied in the context of WTO agreements based on the jointly prepared publication by FAO and WTO.

International wheat prices generally increased in June on quality concerns amid unfavourable growing conditions for the 2017 crops in some key producing countries. Export prices of maize remained generally unchanged, while rice quotations continued to increase mainly on account of strong demand. In East Africa, cereal prices either remain stable or declined in June with the new 2017 harvests, but remained at near-record levels in several countries. Prices increased sharply...

An FAO/WFP Crop and Food Security Assessment Mission (CFSAM) visited Sri Lanka from 12 to 29 March 2017 at the request of the Ministry of Agriculture to estimate the 2016/17 main maha paddy production, to forecast the ongoing 2017 secondary yala paddy production and to analyse household food security conditions. The request was prompted by a prolonged period of poor rainfall over most of the country throughout 2016 that raised...

International wheat prices followed mixed trends in May, increasing in North America and the European Union due to unfavourable weather developments but down slightly in the Black Sea region and Argentina. Export prices of maize remained generally unchanged, while rice quotations were underpinned by strong demand. In Asia, rice prices rose sharply to record highs in Bangladesh, reflecting tighter supplies due to reduced production and imports in 2016, along with...

FAO estimates that 37 countries are in need of external assistance for food. Civil conflict continues to be a main driver of severe food insecurity, triggering famine in South Sudan and putting populations at high risk of localized famine in Yemen and northern Nigeria. Weather shocks, notably droughts, have also impinged on food availability and access, and have in particular compounded the fragile situation in Somalia where famine conditions continue...