Agri-Bulk trade and the COVID-19 recession

Despite their different origins, the economic fallout of the current pandemic is frequently compared with the recession of 2008/9, with most observers anticipating a more prolonged and severe outcome this time around. But one sector of the world’s trading system that appears relatively unscathed and is currently out-performing its 2008/9 predecessor, which experienced price spikes, shortages and trade restrictions is traded in agri-bulks. The complex supply chains underpinning trade in foodstuffs have, despite worries about panic stockpiling, travel prohibitions on immigrant crop pickers, withdrawal of credit facilities to farmers and mass closures of restaurants and cafes, so far remained robust in the face of mass shut-downs elsewhere in the global economy.