Mr. Michael Scannell:

The international dimension is very preoccupying. I make a distinction in that context between those countries outside of Europe that can access markets through their own means and countries that are reliant on humanitarian aid. Taking the example of wheat, it is well recognised that the countries of north Africa and the Middle East are very dependent on wheat imports. They import from around the world. Before this crisis, these were extremely demanding market participants. Countries such as Algeria, Egypt, Tunisia and so forth would put out their periodic tenders seeking submissions by X of the best prices and delivery conditions for 100,000 or 200,000 tonnes of wheat to meet the following specifications and so forth. They basically were hard bargainers and often got very good deals. We were even faced with a lot of complaints that they drove too hard a bargain.

However, markets are cyclical and when they receive a shock, such as what happened with Covid and its impact on logistical chains and then subsequently Ukraine, etc., prices rose. The issue here is not so much availability, but affordability, and these countries are challenged in that context. I mentioned that prices have eased somewhat in recent weeks. I mentioned also that the northern hemisphere harvests are now coming on stream, so for the next several months there will be plenty of availability. The question will be what kind of price they will be prepared to pay.

On the broader dimension, I mentioned we had a communication on 23 March on food security. It had three components: Europe itself; Ukraine; and the international dimension. We explicitly acknowledged that we have to be very mindful of, basically, instability of the world market and how that impacts, including the humanitarian dimension. The Deputy mentioned the Sahel and Horn of Africa region, etc. In the past several months, for example, I do not have the exact figure in front of me, but I recall it was something of the order of €1 billion was pledged by the EU towards the Sahel and Lake Chad area and a further €600 million to the Horn of Africa in direct humanitarian aid. We had the so-called Lugano Conference just last week on Ukraine. Within the package of measures there, there is €500 million, I understand, to assist Ukrainians in dealing with the current challenges to their agriculture and food situation.

We are very alert to and mindful of this international dimension. It is not just a question of short-term fixes. Basically, these countries have to work towards having more resilient agrifood production systems themselves. We all accept that trade is extremely important, including for Europe. Let us not forget we have a huge trade surplus in agrifood products. It is a big part of our economy, especially in Ireland. However, we need to very mindful also that a country is not, let us say, overly exposed, should there be there destruction on world markets for whatever reason, it could be a plant disease, a trade dispute, war, etc. Many developing countries are very vulnerable in this respect and need to invest an awful lot more in their agrifood production systems to basically ensure they are not as vulnerable as they currently are to disruption of world markets. Obviously, we have a duty to assist them in that process also through development aid. That, as I said, was well signalled in the communication on 23 March.

I will not pretend there are any magic solutions to this that can happen overnight. It is and will be a very big concern. What is happening in Ukraine has made that concern an awful lot greater. Of course, everybody remembers the last big spike in world food commodity prices, which triggered the so-called Arab Spring. If it is not carefully handled, we would risk finding ourselves in a similar situation in this case.