COVID-19 Update: April 9, 2020

In a Joint Statement by QU Dongyu, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and Roberto Azevêdo, Directors-General of FAO, WHO and WTO, published on March 30, 2020, it was highlighted that “As countries move to enact measures aiming to halt the accelerating COVID-19 pandemic, care must be taken to minimize potential impacts on the food supply or unintended consequences on global trade and food security”. “When acting to protect the health and well-being of their citizens, countries should ensure that any trade-related measures do not disrupt the food supply chain. Such disruptions including hampering the movement of agricultural and food industry workers and extending border delays for food containers, result in the spoilage of perishables and increasing food waste”.
 
The G20 group has committed to ensuring international flows of agricultural goods as part of their response to the coronavirus crisis. On March 30, during a virtual meeting of G20 trade ministers, the WTO Director-General Roberto Azevêdo welcomed the ministers’ joint declaration, in which they committed to “actively working to ensure the continued flow of vital medical supplies and equipment, critical agricultural products, and other essential goods and services across borders, for supporting the health of our citizens”. Azevêdo stressed the importance of open trade flows for countries to be able to import essential medical equipment, food and energy.

The European Commission

The European Commission (EC) is coordinating a common European response to the outbreak of COVID-19. The EC has expressed its commitment to mitigate the socio-economic consequences of the outbreak, setting out a coordinated response and its priority in ensuring the flow of essential goods such as food supplies including livestock, vital medical and protective equipment and supplies and essential services (Guidelines).
 
In order to keep freight moving across the European Union, the EC has implemented the so-called “Green Lane” border crossing, streamlining and minimizing procedures to those that are strictly necessary. Vehicles carrying any type of goods should be able to use “green lane” border crossings (Guidelines). The EC also adopted the new Implementing Regulation 2020/466 of March 30, 2020, on temporary measures to contain risks to human, animal and plant health and animal welfare during certain serious disruptions of Member States’ control systems due to coronavirus disease. This Regulation should be applicable for two months, in order to facilitate the planning and the performance of official controls and other official activities during this crisis. In addition, the EC has issued new practical advice to ensure that mobile workers within the EU, in particular those in critical occupations to fight the coronavirus pandemic, can reach their workplace.
 
On April 7, the EU finance ministers met to agree on a coronavirus economic rescue plan for the Eurozone worth up to €500bn. After 16 hours of talks without a deal, discussions will continue on April 9.

Italy 

Within the European Union, Spain and Italy have the highest number of COVID-19 cases. In Italy, the authorities locked down the region of Lombardy along with 14 other provinces on March 7. The lockdown was subsequently extended nationwide on March 10. On March 25, under the State aid Temporary Framework to support the economy in the context of the COVID-19 outbreak, the EC approved the Italian State guarantee scheme supporting a debt moratorium from banks to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) affected by the coronavirus outbreak. According to recent declarations by Italian PM Giuseppe Conte to BBC, Italy might begin to relax some measures by the end of April. "We need to pick sectors that can restart their activity. If scientists confirm it, we might begin to relax some measures already by the end of this month."

Spain

The nationwide lockdown in Spain was imposed on March 14, closing all restaurants, bars, hotels, schools and universities nationwide, and other non-essential retail outlets. The nationwide lockdown has been extended consecutively until April 26, but a new extension is not excluded. Following the approval by the EC of two Spanish guarantee schemes on 24 March under the State aid Temporary Framework, on April 2, the EC approved a Spanish aid scheme to support the Spanish economy in the context of the coronavirus outbreak.

United States

In the United States, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are closely monitoring the food supply chain for any shortages in collaboration with industry and their federal and state partners. What counts as an “essential business” could be slightly different among states, but most of them agree that grocery stores, banks, gas stations, laundromats, and trade services such as plumbing and electrical work should make the list, as The Washington Post reported in an article posted on March 25.
 
The State of California published, on March 19, the Executive Order N-33-20 requiring all individuals living in the State of California to stay at home or their place of residence except as needed to maintain continuity of operations of the federal critical infrastructure sectors, the Food and Agriculture Sector being one of the 16 critical infrastructure sectors. That means that the Food and Agricultural Sector has a special responsibility to maintain the normal work schedule.
 
The University of California, Davis, has helpful information and resources on COVID-19 for consumers, community gardens, farms, foodservice, growers, industry, retail, supply: COVID19 Food Safety Resources.

India

India is currently in lockdown for 21 days, since March 25 (Order No. 40-3/2020-DM-I(A)). The Consolidated Guidelines issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs stated that “Shops, including ration shops (under PDS), dealing with food, groceries, fruits and vegetables, dairy and milk booths, meat and fish, animal fodder, fertilizers, seeds and pesticides” and “Delivery of all essential goods including food…” are exempted to be closed down. In addition, manufacturing units of essential goods and manufacturing units of packaging material for food items and manufacturing and packaging units of fertilizers, pesticides and seeds will remain open and the transportation for essential goods is not suspended. It is specified that the restrictions are fundamentally related to the movement of people, but not of essential goods.
 
In a separate notification, on March 28, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry issued a Trade Notice (No. 59/2019-2020) stating that exporters will be allowed to ship their goods without the mandatory Certificate of Origin (COO) under India’s Trade Agreements since Indian agencies are temporarily closed. "The certificates would be issued retrospectively by the concerned Indian agencies after they open their offices".

South Africa

The MP Minister of Agriculture of South Africa, Thoko Didiza, stated that the agriculture and food supply sector is one of the essential systems for livelihood and therefore will remain operational despite of the lockdown announced on March 23. Agricultural production in all its forms will remain uncompromised and exports and imports of critical agriculture commodities and the logistical measures will continue to ensure global and national food security during the lockdown. In addition, to avoid inflated prices in the sector, food price monitoring will be conducted on critical food basket commodities and reports will be given to the nation on regular bases.

Chile

Since March 18, all Chile’s land, maritime and air borders are closed for the transit of foreign nationals, however, this does not impact the entry and exit of cargo or carriers in order to ensure normal supply. The Chilean Government stated that the supply chain is functioning normally in regard to both the production and distribution of the various goods, and therefore, there is no need for citizens to stock up in excess.

Australia

The Australian Government Department of Health is closely monitoring the COVID-19 pandemic. Some limitations including the closure of venues of non-essential activities have been implemented. However, Australians will still be able to access the goods and services needed to safely and sustainably live their lives (here). According to Tridge, Australia has announced a 14-day quarantine on any vessels outbound from China.

China

As more countries are issuing new restrictions to contain the pandemic, China, the initial focus of the coronavirus outbreak, has begun to loosen its lockdown. China was shut down for about four weeks from January 23. Wuhan area shutdown is expected to last about two months, until April 8, 2020. During this time strict measures in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19 were imposed[1]. Normal life is starting to return in China step by step. According to Reuters, “industry experts say many farmers resumed production as China’s virus lockdowns eased but demand has been slower to recover, particularly from commercial buyers such as restaurants, cafes and canteens”.
 
According to Tridge, in China, except for the Hubei province, most trucking services have been reinstated. Although there is still a lack of capacity, which has increased trucking costs. All Chinese airports except for Wuhan’s are operating as usual. With passenger flights to and from China mostly suspended, freight capacity is reduced by approximately 90%, resulting in price hikes for air freights. In terms of ocean freight, all Chinese ports except for Wuhan’s are operating as usual, but with blank sailings and limited capacity.

 
Despite the governmental measures addressed to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is inevitable that, in some cases, the food supply chain will be affected by this unprecedented situation. Port congestion, lack of containers, rising shipping costs, increasing border inspections, mismatch of offer and demand, and price fluctuations are some issues that are affecting trade, according to Tridge. In addition, activities which require the physical presence of official staff, such as official controls, could be delayed.

The information above is a review of actions the INC has compiled from government sources and international organizations. This news article is not intended to be exhaustive and it does not reflect the opinions of the INC. While the publishers believe that all information contained in this publication was correct at the time of publishing, they can accept no liability for any inaccuracies that may appear or loss suffered directly or indirectly by any reader as a result of any advertisement, editorial, photographs or other materials published in this news article.