Global Food Commodity Price Volatility and Developing Country Import Risks

The world food price spike of 2007-2008 raised to the fore the issues of how countries can manage their basic staple food imports in times of crises. There are many risks to food imports, ranging from price risks to risks of non-performance and hence threats to domestic food supplies. The chapter first provides a review of the risks and food import access problems faced by various low and middle income net food staple importing countries and reviews pertinent policies to deal with them. A short review of some institutional issues in food importing is given to introduce more detailed discussion of food import risk management. Then a proposal for a food import financing facility designed to alleviate the financing constraint of many developing food-importing countries is presented.