Slowing population growth and a gradual saturation of consumption in emerging economies should result in a slowdown in the growth for food demand, according to a new joint report from two global organizations.
The new “Agricultural Outlook 2016-2025” also notes that gains in food production efficiencies will result in lower overall food prices and productivity will grow as a result of yield improvements. The report adds that prices for main crops, livestock and fish prices all fell in 2015, opening the door for an end to high prices in all subsectors after record-high meat prices in 2014. Robust supply growth combined with weakening demand in the wake of general economic slowdowns to help fuel the price reductions, the report said.
Global undernourishment also is expected to decline by between 11 percent and 8 percent in the next decade, but higher consumption of sugar and fats also is expected, the report noted. The total number of undernourished people is expected to drop from 788 million to fewer than 650 million by 2025.
The report is a collaboration between the Organization for Economic Co-operations and Development (OECD) and the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO0 and studies mid-term prospects of national, regional and global agricultural commodity markets in more than 40 countries.