Baking Business published an article stating that amid the chaos currently prevailing in ingredient markets and the urgency with which bakers and other food manufacturers are working to keep production facilities supplied, longer-term global implications of the crisis hover ominously. Primary among questions is concern about the future of free trade and open markets. Prompt action to effectively address current issues will be necessary to neutralize the threat of expanding protectionism.
Long before supply-chain interruptions and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, momentum was fading behind globalization and the expansion of free trade of agricultural and other goods. With prices of agricultural products surging over the past year to historic highs, access to agricultural goods at risk, protests over food prices spreading around the world, and warnings of severe impending global food insecurity, skepticism toward free trade appears poised to deepen. How countries around the world will respond over time to the current crisis remains to be seen. Preliminary indications are concerning. As of mid-May, IFPRI had identified 15 countries that had banned the export of agricultural products. (See tool, Food & Fertilizer Export Restrictions Tracker).