|Cereals|118|94|-20|1,004|786|-22|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|Meat|103|90|-12|871|2,557|194|
|Legumes and pulses|94|88|-6|120|113|-6|
|Vegetable and animal oils|83|68|-19|1,373|1,230|-10|
|Dairy and eggs|29|23|-22|338|435|28|
|Fresh Fruits – Vegetables|18|15|-15|5,431|5,629|4|
|Sugar|12|13|1|54|120|122|
|Stimulant crops|20|3|-84|49|55|11|
|**Top-10 food products exported by China**|||||||
|Fish fillets and other fish meat|648|479|-26|56|61|8|
|Citrus fruit; fresh or dried|328|308|-6|24|22|-8|
|Crustaceans, meals, pellets|151|113|-25|1,227|1,098|-11|
|Nuts|79|108|36|192|160|-17|
|Rice|103|85|-18|235|154|-35|
|Meat and edible offal of poultry|81|73|-10|184|432|135|
|Fish, dried, salted, smoked, etc.|63|61|-3|8|11|32|
|Vegetables, leguminous|74|57|-24|120|113|-6|
|Groundnuts|50|34|-31|21|125|511|
|Oil seeds and oleaginous fruits|35|27|-22|264|173|-34|
|**Agriculture (HS 1-24)**|10,485|9,274|-12|21,481|23,184|8|
|**Extractive (HS 25-27)**|7,170|7,688|7|81,028|87,510|8|
|**Manufacturing (HS 28-97)**|333,947|274,123|-18|206,753|187,439|-9|
|**Total**|**351,603**|**291,085**|**-17**|**309,262**|**298,133**|**-4**|

_Source:_ China customs.

# 4. **Global trade flows in food**

While Covid-19 has been most virulent in China, Europe and North America, the number of new cases has been increasing across the globe. The top-50 countries<sup>10</sup> most affected by Covid-19 represent on average 66 percent of the world export supply of food products. How Covid-19 will impact the supply of different food products in the short term will depend on what these countries produce. In the medium-longer term, as the geography of Covid-19 changes and coronavirus spreads across different countries, the set of food markets potentially affected will change, pointing to the need for continuing monitoring.

The share of world exports by the top-50 most affected Covid-19 countries goes from 38.3 to 51.8 percent in food products such as stimulant crops and oil bearing to more than 75 percent in vegetable and animal oils, fresh fruits and meat (Figure 4). For key staples such as cereals, the European Union, Canada and Australia, (which are among the top-10 economies most affected by Covid-19) represent 91 percent of world exports of oats, 66.1 percent of rye, 62.6 percent of barley and 42.1 percent of wheat and meslin. The United States represents more than 70 percent in world exports of flour and meals (75.9) and grain sorghum (77.1). Other large exporters of cereals include Thailand, which represents 24 percent of world supply of rice; the Russian Federation, with shares of world exports of wheat, rye and barely ranging between 14 and 21 percent; and Brazil, whose exports of corn represent 13.9 percent of total exports. The United States, the European Union and China also represent more than 25 percent of global export

> 10 Most affected countries are defined based on information from the World Health Organization coronavirus disease (Covid-19) situation reports on total number of cases per country   (https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus- <u>2019/situation-reports).</u> Up to date, the European Union is the region with most affected cases. Therefore all 28 members are included in the top-50 countries most affected by Covid-19. For the rest of the analysis presented in this paper, the European Union is considered as a single country, given that it has a common external trade policy.

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