Covid: Jump in agricultural prices in 2020, is a historic record

2020 closes with a leap in the international prices of the main agricultural products, from corn which records the highest increase of the decade to soy which reaches its peak in six and a half years to wheat at the top for 6 years but also concentrated orange juice which recorded an increase in prices of 28% during the year. This is what emerges from Coldiretti's financial statements for futures contracts at the annual closing of the Chicago Bord of Trade (CBOT), the international reference point for the future market of agricultural raw materials.

In the balance sheet at the end of the year - underlines Coldiretti - wheat recorded an increase of 14.6%, corn by 24.8% while soya jumped by 37.2%. In contrast to the difficulties of the global economy, in the year of the pandemic the price of the main agricultural raw materials rose with the race for essential goods which is increasing the prices of the products necessary to guarantee the nutrition of population in a scenario of reduced trade, hoarding, speculation and uncertainty due to the effects of climate change. The effects of the pandemic therefore move from the financial markets to those of precious metals up to agricultural production whose availability has become strategic with the uncertainty about the effects of the new wave of infections despite the arrival of the vaccine.

At the international level the increase in the prices of concentrated orange juice (FCOJ) is due to the healthy change caused by the Covid pandemic in food choices, with consumers around the world looking for nutritious and healthy products. Soy - continues Coldiretti - is one of the most cultivated agricultural products in the world, with the United States competing with Brazil for global leadership in crops while China is the main world buyer of this basic component of food in farms together. with corn. The trend in prices directly concerns Italy which is the leading European producer with about 50% of the soybean grown but which is still in deficit and must import from abroad.

COVID-19 is triggering a new short circuit on the front of raw materials in the national agricultural sector which has already experienced the failures of price volatility in a country like Italy which is heavily in deficit and needs a plan to enhance production and storage for the main commodities, from wheat to corn up to the expected national protein plan for feeding farm animals to regain competitiveness with respect to foreign competitors.

The increase in prices confirms that the global alarm caused by the coronavirus has brought out a greater awareness of the strategic value represented by food and the necessary guarantees of quality and safety. However, it has also exposed the fragility present in Italy on which action must be taken to defend food sovereignty, reduce dependence on foreign supplies at a time of great international tensions, and create new jobs.