COVID-19 and Food Export Restrictions: Comparing today’s situation to the 2007/08 price spikes
Twenty-two countries have announced or imposed export restrictions on food in response to the COVID-19 crisis.
This has sparked concern that access to food for consumers in low-income, food-importing countries could be harmed, as happened when food prices spiked in 2007/08 and 2010/11. There are important differences between today’s situation and the previous price spike episodes, as well as some similarities. This policy brief draws on the International Food Policy Research Institute’s (IFPRI’s) COVID-19 Food Trade Policy Tracker to compare how governments have reacted to the current crisis with how they did so in the past.
Participating experts
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