Soaring food imports leave countries vulnerable

Rome

GLOBAL grain imports have increased more than five-fold over the past half-century, stoking fears that countries have become too dependent on the vagaries of international markets for their food, an environmental researcher said.

If prices rise, or wild weather prompts countries to impose grain export bans, as Russia did in 2010, nations heavily dependent on imports could face a crisis. More than a third of countries import at least 25 per cent of their grains, an increase of 57 per cent since 1961, said Gary Gardner, a researcher at the Worldwatch Institute in Washington.