WikiLeaks Document Release http://wikileaks.org/wiki/CRS-RS21279 February 2, 2009 Congressional Research Service Report RS21279 International Food Aid: U.S. and Other Donor Contributions Charles E. Hanrahan and Carol Canada, Resources, Science and Industry Division May 29, 2008 Abstract. U.S. food aid accounted for 58% of food aid shipments by major donors during 1995/96-2006/07. A substantial portion of U.S. food aid is channeled through the WFP. During 1996-2008, around 48% of donor contributions to the WFP came from the United States. The Food Aid Convention (FAC), now expired, was an agreement among donor countries to provide a minimum amount of food aid to low-income developing countries. The food aid commitment agreed to by all FAC signatories in 1999 was approximately 4.9 million metric tons (mmt). The United States pledged to provide 2.5 mmt or 51% of the total commitment. Order Code RS21279 Updated May 29, 2008 International Food Aid: U.S. and Other Donor Contributions Charles E. Hanrahan Senior Specialist in Agricultural Policy Resources, Science, and Industry Division Carol Canada Technical Information Specialist Knowledge Services Group http://wikileaks.org/wiki/CRS-RS21279 Summary The United States is the world's major provider of international food aid to low- income developing countries. This report provides three indicators of the U.S. contribution to global food aid: (1) shipments of major donors compiled by the International Grains Council, (2) U.S. contributions to the United Nations World Food Program (WFP), and (3) the U.S. commitment under the Food Aid Convention (FAC). U.S. food aid accounted for 58% of food aid shipments by major donors during 1995/96-2006/07. A substantial portion of U.S. food aid is channeled through the WFP. During 1996-2008, around 48% of donor contributions to the WFP came from the United States. The Food Aid Convention (FAC), now expired, was an agreement among donor countries to provide a minimum amount of food aid to low-income developing countries. The food aid commitment agreed to by all FAC signatories in 1999 was approximately 4.9 million metric tons (mmt). The United States pledged to provide 2.5 mmt or 51% of the total commitment. Contributions of Major Donors to International Food Aid The United States is the major contributor to international food aid, supplying on average, since 1995, around 58% of the annual total food aid donated by members of the Food Aid Committee of the International Grains Council (IGC) and signatories of the 1999 Food Aid Convention (Figure 1).1 U.S. contributions of 2.8 million metric tons (mmt) measured in wheat equivalent in 1995/1996 rose to 7.1 mmt in 2001/2002 1 Information on the International Grains Council, the Food Aid Convention, and the Food Aid Committee is available at [http://www.igc.org.uk/]. CRS-2 (Appendix Table 1).2 U.S. Figure 1. Food Aid by Major Donors, 1995-2007 shipments of commodity food aid were 3.9 mmt in EU 26.3% 2006/2007. U.S. contribu- Japan 5.6% tions have averaged 5.8 mmt annually. Food aid Canada 5.2% from the European Union (including food aid provided Australia 2.8% by the European Commis- Other 1.9% sion and by individual EU member countries) has been more stable and averaged around 2.6 mmt or 26% of average annual food aid USA 58.1% shipments. Japan and Canada provided 6% and 5%, respectively, of the total Source: Food Aid Shipments 2006/07, International Grains Council Food Aid Committee. from major donors. Japan's http://wikileaks.org/wiki/CRS-RS21279 contributions are provided as cash rather than commodities. The United States contributes commodities, while the European Union and its member countries provide a mix of cash and commodities. Because the IGC's food aid data are reported on a July/June marketing year basis, they do not correspond, for example, to fiscal year food aid data reported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in budget documents or by the U.S. Agency for International Development in annual food aid reports. The source of the data in Figure 1 and Appendix Table 1 is the annual report Food Aid Shipments, prepared by the Food Aid Committee of the International Grains Council.3 Food Aid Contributions to the World Food Program Most U.S. food aid is provided on a bilateral basis, but a substantial portion is channeled through the United Nations World Food Program (WFP), the intergovernmental agency that provides food aid for development projects and humanitarian relief in low income countries. More than 56 donors, mainly countries, but also some non-governmental organizations and private corporations, contribute to the WFP. The United States is the major donor, providing over the last 12 years around 46% of total WFP contributions (Figure 2 and Appendix Table 2). Over that same 12-year period, the EU (again combining European Commission with EU member countries' contributions) accounted for around 30% of total WFP contributions. Japan, whose contributions are in cash, provided around 6%. The remaining donors combined provided about 18% to WFP food aid resources. Donor contributions to the WFP are not in addition to, but are included in, the data reported in Figure 1 and Appendix Table 1. 2 Data on food aid shipments provided by the International Grains Council are reported on a marketing year basis (July-June). 3 International Grains Council, Food Aid Committee, Food Aid Shipments 2006/2007: Report on Shipments by Members of the Food Aid Convention, May 2008, viewed at [http://www.igc.org.uk/downloads/publications/fas/fas0607.pdf]. CRS-3 Commitments under the Food Aid Convention The Food Aid Convention (FAC), first agreed to in 1968 during the Kennedy Round of multilateral trade negotiations held under the auspices of the General Agreements on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), was an international agreement that constituted a framework of cooperation on food aid between major donors. The Figure 2. Food Aid Contributions to the World food aid commitment under Food Program, 1996-2008 the FAC was a minimum USA 46.2% commitment and was in- tended to be a guarantee of food security for low- income developing coun- tries. The signatories of the FAC were Argentina, Aus- tralia, Canada, the European Union and its member Japan 6.2% Other 17.7% countries, Japan, Norway, http://wikileaks.org/wiki/CRS-RS21279 Switzerland, and the United States. Signatories could provide more than their EU 30.0% minimum commitment. The current FAC was negotiated in 1999 and expired in *Data asWorld Food2008. Source: of May 4, Programme. 2003. Under the FAC, the donors could express their annual food aid commitments in either tonnage or in value, but most continue to use the former. Japan is the major exception, although the EU also provides some food aid in the form of cash. The total commitment under the most recent FAC (1999-2003) was 4.9 mmt (see Figure 3 and Appendix Table 2). The United States made the largest commitment, 2.5 mmt or 51% of the total. The combined EU c o m m i t m e n t Figure 3. Food Aid Commitments under the Food (Commission and member Aid Convention countries) was around 27%. EU 27.0% Commitments by Canada, Japan, and Australia were, respectively, 8.6%, 6.1%, Canada 8.6% and 5.1%. Only two of Japan 6.1% eight FAC signatories Norway 0.6% Australia 5.1% Switzerland 0.8% (Norway and the United Argentina 0.7% States) have met or ex ceeded their FAC commitments on average over the life of the FAC (1999-2003). USA 51.1% Although the FAC expired in 2003, a working committee of the IGC was Source: International Grains Council Food Aid Committee, Food Aid Convention. CRS-4 established to prepare for its renegotiation.4 The Food Aid Committee of the IGC continues to meet periodically to review donor food aid contributions in relation to commitments under the 1999 FAC and to global food needs and has agreed that the existing FAC should be extended for a further two-year period from July 1, 2005. Concurrently, trade-related aspects of food aid are being negotiated in the multilateral trade round known as the Doha Development Agenda (DDA). Renegotiation of the FAC, however, appears unlikely until the future of DDA trade negotiations has been determined. The next meeting of the Food Aid Committee of the IGC is scheduled for October 2008. Table 1. Annual Commitments under the Food Aid Convention (metric tons wheat equivalent) Average Food Annual Aid Shipments Commitments Percent 1999-2003 Percent Argentina 35,000 0.72% 553 0.01% http://wikileaks.org/wiki/CRS-RS21279 Australia 250,000 5.11% 235,242 2.42% Canada 420,000 8.58% 386,859 3.98% EU 1,320,000 26.97% 2,072,822 21.34% Japan 300,000 6.13% 550,945 5.67% Norway 30,000 0.61% 109,318 1.13% Switzerland 40,000 0.82% 62,217 0.64% USA 2,500,000 51.07% 6,294,145 64.81% Total 4,895,000 100.00% 9,712,101 100.00% Source: International Grains Council Food Aid Committee, The Food Aid Convention. 4 IGC-FAC Press Release, 8 December 2004, viewed at [http://www.igc.org.uk/press/ pr041208.htm]. CRS-5 Appendix Table 1. Food Aid by Major Donor, 1995/96-2006/07 (in metric tons wheat equivalent) Annual Average Metric 1995/96 1996/97 1997/98 1998/99 1999/00 2000/01 2001/02 2002/03 2003/04 2004/05 2005/06 2006/07 Total Percent Tons Argentina 13,400 10,135 2,740 26 26,301 0.03% 2,630 Australia 298,146 305,127 293,221 273,064 296,713 251,865 245,828 203,820 177,984 168,083 180,667 114,530 2,809,048 2.79% 280,905 Canada 448,764 468,431 417,917 487,095 470,640 293,477 412,082 499,382 351,168 437,341 448,534 474,438 5,209,269 5.18% 520,927 EU 2,413,991 2,049,691 2,201,162 1,969,892 1,970,768 2,357,778 1,836,717 1,980,781 2,218,065 2,151,958 2,853,063 2,488,053 26,491,919 26.33% 2,649,192 http://wikileaks.org/wiki/CRS-RS21279 Japan 474,870 326,835 302,626 561,643 337,357 637,749 531,755 666,910 580,953 578,261 354,289 318,964 5,672,212 5.64% 567,221 Norway 6,233 32,816 19,306 61,293 75,960 85,876 74,318 144,927 165,510 145,586 196,034 179,408 1,187,267 1.18% 118,727 Switzerland 75,479 38,636 57,915 38,939 61,295 54,169 58,042 67,892 69,689 71,854 61,608 71,051 726,569 0.72% 72,657 USA 2,849,384 2,553,283 2,818,500 4,734,121 5,692,116 6,798,280 7,124,407 6,054,197 5,801,724 5,363,186 4,830,710 3,869,162 58,489,070 58.13% 5,848,907 Total 6,580,267 5,774,819 6,110,647 8,136,182 8,907,589 10,479,194 10,283,175 9,617,909 9,365,093 8,916,269 8,924,905 7,515,606 100,611,655 100.00% 10,061,166 Source: International Grains Council Food Aid Committee, Food Aid Shipments, various issues. CRS-6 Appendix Table 2. Food Aid Contributions to the World Food Program, 1996-2008 (thousand dollars) As of May 4, 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 Total United States of America 494,980 408,380 876,284 718,856 795,676 1,210,543 933,217 1,459,324 1,044,168 1,174,918 1,123,113 1,183,068 362,728 11,785,255 European Union 603,981 550,522 522,397 461,800 442,495 436,559 560,653 620,929 692,984 876,111 747,096 763,064 373,331 7,651,922 EU Commission 196,873 237,254 184,645 168,098 117,509 118,411 179,205 201,463 200,501 263,940 265,762 250,437 32,451 2,416,548 EU Countries 407,108 313,269 337,752 293,702 324,986 318,149 381,448 419,466 492,483 612,171 481,334 512,627 340,880 5,235,374 Austria 4,774 4,910 3,853 3,710 2,854 1,117 3,302 2,199 2,189 4,344 1,839 3,776 3,414 42,281 Belgium 19,472 17,416 16,908 10,782 6,284 5,294 5,748 8,480 10,750 13,952 11,132 17,644 15 143,876 Cyprus 5 400 656 1,061 http://wikileaks.org/wiki/CRS-RS21279 Czech Republic 98 1,236 308 561 57 2,260 Denmark 53,064 44,248 43,384 46,900 41,908 39,385 39,964 39,335 43,247 52,838 43,817 44,339 50,480 582,909 Finland 16,045 13,768 13,801 15,345 15,219 14,467 17,445 17,793 17,860 23,557 18,319 25,403 18,736 227,758 France 19,203 21,884 24,742 27,693 26,170 35,929 14,457 14,939 30,288 37,676 25,689 33,762 9,140 321,572 Germany 96,036 68,487 61,779 53,089 46,750 58,088 60,920 46,458 65,126 70,721 59,621 65,680 28,456 781,211 Greece 150 170 25 1 130 200 16 3,637 4,201 5,081 3,214 16,825 Hungary 65 120 65 65 315 Ireland 3,149 4,284 4,378 5,021 7,639 7,317 10,390 11,815 13,684 19,708 31,005 34,244 9,187 161,819 Italy 34,876 9,112 10,632 20,817 19,936 36,060 38,016 40,480 47,613 47,908 12,321 31,268 41,544 390,584 Lithuania 112 306 418 Luxembourg 218 270 130 1,205 1,735 2,919 3,913 5,413 10,681 15,387 11,951 11,338 65,160 Netherlands 78,804 45,972 45,532 55,003 62,801 59,481 58,795 50,422 77,738 115,348 79,985 75,630 54,232 859,743 Poland 356 200 1,200 755 2,511 Slovakia 25 30 48 44 147 Slovenia 33 97 107 47 284 Spain 13,720 12,245 2,725 2,511 3,256 3,946 2,607 5,357 17,553 11,595 16,993 29,641 13,716 135,865 Sweden 33,164 35,985 29,511 28,415 30,778 27,711 31,167 42,341 44,540 84,259 58,520 64,863 61,290 572,545 United Kingdom 34,434 34,789 80,212 24,284 60,056 27,620 95,718 135,734 115,884 114,264 100,372 66,851 36,014 926,231 Japan 124,032 98,991 123,757 106,438 260,099 91,139 92,896 129,938 135,730 160,528 71,190 118,710 69,653 1,583,101 All Others 222,166 253,647 204,811 268,274 252,853 165,999 222,338 362,983 342,017 515,410 762,467 647,917 294,903 4,515,785 TOTAL 1,445,159 1,311,540 1,727,248 1,555,369 1,751,123 1,904,241 1,809,104 2,573,174 2,214,899 2,726,967 2,703,866 2,712,759 1,100,615 25,536,063 Source: World Food Program. Data available at [http://www.wfp.org].