Man remains in a state of misery as long as it ignites the circles of conflict in the context of seeking to control the resources of others, and food will remain the strategic commodity that cannot be dispensed with, without which human beings will perish.

In light of the negative repercussions of the Russian war crisis on Ukraine, food prices in the international market inflamed due to the disruption of food and grain exports from Ukraine and Russia, as well as threats related to its transportation and the security of ships and workers in agriculture and transport.

There are greater concerns about the future of food security in the world if the Russian war on Ukraine expands geographically to include other countries or expands qualitatively with the use of weapons of mass destruction, and hence everyone seeks to end this war without paying a heavy bill on the economic level in general, and on the level of food especially.

The world is concerned about the delay of about 25 million tons of grain still stuck in the ports of Ukraine due to the war, according to what the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, said, and there are efforts by the Secretary-General of the conflicting countries to release these shipments and facilitate the movement of food ships .

In light of these concerns, we are trying in these lines to shed light on the map of food production and trade in the world, and to know the areas of production weight, and the extent of its impact on the world level.

major food producers

According to the data of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the world in 2019 was able to produce 9.35 billion tons of primary crops (cereals, sugar crops, vegetables, oil crops, fruits, roots and tubers).

At the level of the world regions, the production map shows that the Asia region leads the world regions and is close to 50% of its production of primary crops, as its share reached 4.6 billion tons, followed by the Americas with a smaller share and by a large difference at 2.5 billion tons, while Europe is ranked next with a share With 1.1 billion tons of primary crops, then Africa with a share of 946 million tons, and at the bottom of the list is the Oceania region with a production share of 91 million tons.

But if we move to the countries’ share in the production of primary agricultural crops, we will find China at the top of the list, followed by India, and this is normal due to two important things, namely the large geographical area of ​​the two countries as well as the number of population. Some call the two countries metaphorically called “a continent.”

global food trade

Food exports worldwide in 2019 amounted to about 1.83 trillion dollars, and exports of vegetables and fruits were on the list of these exports in terms of value, reaching 274 billion dollars, followed by grains with 193 billion dollars, then meat with 155 billion dollars, then drinks with 114 billion dollars, then Dairy and eggs cost $84 billion, oils and fats $81 billion, and sugar and honey $41 billion.

As for geographic regions at the world level, Europe achieved the highest exports this year, with a value of 593 billion dollars, followed by the Americas with 369 billion dollars, then Asia with 309 billion dollars, then Oceania with 56.6 billion dollars, and Africa at the bottom of the list with 52.7 billion dollars. .

Regarding the performance of countries in food exports, America leads the world with a value of 120 billion dollars, then the Netherlands with 82 billion dollars, then China with 80 billion dollars, then Germany with 68 billion dollars, and Brazil with 67 billion dollars. It is noted that the list of the top ten countries in food exports are all European except for America China and Brazil.

As for food imports at the world level, we find that Europe also topped the list of world regions in terms of food imports in 2019 with a value of 560 billion dollars, followed by Asia with 485 billion dollars, then the Americas with 264 billion dollars, Africa with 80 billion dollars, then the Oceania region with 20 billion dollars .

Regarding the performance of countries towards importing food, we find China at the top of the importing countries with a value of 170 billion dollars, followed by America with 151 billion dollars, then Germany with 82 billion dollars, Japan with 60.7 billion dollars, then the Netherlands with 60.1 billion dollars, and at the level of the top ten countries To import food, we find that the list includes European countries except for China, America, Japan and Canada.

War and threats to global food security

The threats to global food security come from managing the crisis, not in terms of food quantities. Russia has restricted its exports of grain since the outbreak of the war, which helped greatly in raising food prices on the global market, and the restrictions imposed by the war on Ukraine’s exports of oils and grains led For the same result as well.

The threats on this aspect did not stop only through the performance of the two sides of the crisis, but other actors in the production and trade of food took measures that disrupt the global food security equation, including India’s decision to ban its wheat exports, as well as China’s refusal to meet the European Union’s demand to release part of the their grain reserves in order to cool prices in the international market.

The episode is complemented by those fears experienced by poor or indebted countries that depend mainly on importing a large part of their food needs, especially from Russia and Ukraine. This crisis represents one of the biggest threats to the global trading system, which relied on the theory of comparative advantage in food production and trade, but on It seems that the current conflict due to the Russian war on Ukraine will have multiple negative repercussions on the global economic system with all its components, and this requires everyone to recalculate, especially in a very important issue such as food security.