23.01.18

This new report, developed by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development ( OECD) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations ( FAO ), provides a comprehensive overview of agricultural prospects for the coming decade, covering global, regional, and national production, trade, risks and uncertainties, and prices for agricultural and fishery products . It also assesses existing macroeconomic and policy conditions .

According to this study, conditions in agricultural markets are strongly influenced by macroeconomic variables such as global gross domestic product (GDP) growth (which supports demand for agricultural commodities) and the price of crude oil (which determines the price of various inputs for the agricultural sector and influences demand for cereals, sugar crops, and vegetable oils through the biofuel market).

The assessment of the commodity situation— cereals, oilseeds and their products, sugar, meat, dairy products and their derivatives, fish and seafood, biofuels, and cotton— indicates that real prices for almost all of them will remain flat or decline.

According to this OECD-FAO study, future growth in crop production will be achieved primarily through increased yields and meat and dairy production, due to both larger livestock stocks and improved yields. Agricultural trade is expected to grow more slowly but will remain less sensitive to weak economic conditions than trade in other sectors.

Finally, a section is devoted to the prospects and challenges of Southeast Asia, observing the development of agriculture and fisheries in this region, identifying room for sustainable agricultural productivity improvement.