Chinese agriculture grapples with the coronavirus pandemic; food crisis might be in the cards

According to a Chinese agriculture official on Monday, the virus outbreak might cause an economic shock to the global food trade and cause another global food crisis.

Commentaries were released as the virus outbreak affected the international agriculture supply chains and overturned trades. Other countries also reduced its supplies of grains and enhanced the buying of strategic grain reserves.

“The fast spreading global epidemic has brought huge uncertainty on international agriculture trade and markets,” Yu Kangzhen, Vice Agricultural Minister of China, said in a statement.

“If the epidemic continues to spread and escalate, the impact on international food trade and production will definitely worsen, and might trigger a new round of food crisis,” Yu also added.

As stated by the vice agricultural minister during a video conference, the procedures that other countries decided to take against the virus outbreak has secured standard trade and supplies and triggered some major price changes.

China’s Agriculture Minister Hang Changfu also attended the conference and dismissed food crisis, saying its country has the capacity to supply agricultural crops.

As of today, 2.4 Million people have already been infected by the coronavirus with the death count reaching 165,000 across the globe. The outbreak started last December 2019 in the city of Wuhan, China.