The dynamics of international food trade: patterns of inequality and inequity from 1965 to 2020

By facilitating the redistribution of food resources, international food trade underpins the achievement of food security across nations. Although the trade’s impact has been widely studied, its inequality and inequity in supporting food security are often overlooked, as existing research frequently assumes a level playing field. In this study, we introduce a comprehensive index of the international food trade’s contribution to food security (CITFE) to analyze inequality and inequity in the international food trade’s role in supporting food security (IIFE) over the past 55 years, specifically for countries or regions with food production and demand gaps (PDGs). Our findings are as follows: First, from 1965 to 2020, the average CITFE values reveal notable disparities among food types, with soybean exhibiting the highest average value (0.0903), followed by rice (0.0760), maize (0.0669), and wheat (0.0448). Geographically, regions with high CITFE values are predominantly clustered in Europe. Second, there is significant inequality in the international food trade’s role in ensuring food security. While this inequality has decreased over time for rice, wheat, and maize, it has increased for soybean, indicating shifting patterns of trade reliance and production. Third, we identify pronounced inequity in the international food trade for low-income countries or regions, especially those in Latin America, Africa, South Asia, and Oceania. For these low-income regions, trends in trade inequity over time are strongly dependent on comparison benchmarks. Compared to high-income countries or regions, the inequity in food trade for low-income countries has shown a marked upward trend. However, when compared to middle-income or middle-and-above-income countries, inequity for low-income regions has been on a downward trend. These findings contribute to current discussions on the equality and equity of the international food trade and underscore the need for comprehensive strategies to enhance food trade practices and promote global food security across all income levels.