May 14, 2020 - World

Coronavirus triggers global "food crisis with lots of food"

People line up for food in Clichy-sous-Bois, a suburb north of Paris. Open-air markets closed, supermarket prices are skyrocketing and people are out of jobs. Photo: Francois Mori/AP

"Soaring Prices, Rotting Crops ... Processing and transportation breakdowns, panic buying threaten vulnerable nations;" reports The Wall Street Journal (subscription):

What they're saying: "You can have a food crisis with lots of food. That’s the situation we’re in,” said Abdolreza Abbassian, a senior economist at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

What's happening, per The Journal:

  • "Trade disruptions and lockdowns are making it harder to move produce from farms to markets, processing plants and ports."
  • "[P]eople around the world are running short of money."

Go deeper: How the coronavirus is disrupting the global food supply

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