Current Status of Food Losses in the APEC region. Dr. David Hong President of Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER)

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1 Current Status of Food Losses in the APEC region Dr. David Hong President of Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER)

2 Outline Introduction Different Challenges What Existing Research Shows What Need To Be Done? Conclusion

3 Introduction (1) Significance of Food Losses in APEC Population: APEC s population accounts for 41% of world population Food Production: APEC accounts for 53% of global cereal production and about 70% of fish production. Food Losses in APEC: However, according to UN Industrial Development Organization (Unido), post-harvest losses in Asia along are estimated at 30% of global food production annually, valued at $5 billion. The number of food losses in the APEC region is likely to be higher.

4 Introduction (2) APEC highlights the importance of food losses 2012 APEC Leaders Declaration 2012 Kazan Declaration on APEC Food Security 2012 Sept Niigata Declaration on APEC Food Security 2012 May 2010 Oct. PPFS s Action Plan for ATCWG s Medium-Term Workplan ( )

5 Different Challenges Developing Economies Developed Economies Mainly food losses extensive education of farmers, improved infrastructures to connect small-scale farmers to markets, effective value chains that provide sufficient financial incentives at the farmer level, collective marketing and improved technologies supported by access to microcredit, etc. Mainly food waste more efforts on taxation, legal regulations, consumer education campaigns, etc.

6 Different Situations of Food Losses Global Food losses in high-and-medium income economies and low-income economies Source: Gustavsson et al. (2011), data from FAO and PSU.

7 It shows that the different situations of food losses between developed and developing economies About 30% of food is lost along the entire food supply chain in both developed and developing economies. Food losses are larger in low-income economies at the beginning of the supply chain from production to post-harvest segments; food losses in high-and-medium incomeeconomies are larger at the marketing and consumption stages of the supply chain.

8 In comparison, 24% of food is lost in low-income economies from production to processing, while 19% of food is lost in high-and-medium-income economies in these stages.. 14% of food is wasted during distribution and consumption stages in high-and-medium-income economies; but only 7.6% of food is wasted during the same stages in low-income economies.

9 Two Major Challenges First, data on food losses are extremely limited and outdated Data on food losses vary by different economies; Available data on food losses are usually outdated; The types and coverage of food losses data also differ by different economies. No consistent and comparable data across economies and across agricultural products

10 What Existing Research Show (2) Two Major Challenges Second, no standardized methodology for measuring food losses across the agricultural products Difficult to estimate the exact situation of food losses; Difficult to conduct analysis on the possible solutions of food losses; Difficult to take a concrete action to address the issue of food losses; Difficult to design coordinated approaches to addressing the issues of food losses

11 What Existing Research Show (3) Available Assessments of Food Losses in APEC According to FAO (2009), it is estimated 9% the food supply in the APEC region lost between production and before reaching the consumer. Specifically, an estimated 14% of roots and tubers are lost in the supply chain, followed by fish and seafood (11%) and oilseeds and pulses (10%) (PSU, 2012)

12 What Existing Research Show (4) Food losses in developing APEC economies mostly occur in the storage and transportation, particularly in the Southeast Asian APEC economies; Food losses are also high in developed APEC economies for these economies producing agricultural commodity Canada and US s losses in roots and tubers are above 10%; Australia s cereal losses are about 15%. Food losses of dairy products largely happen in developed APEC economies

13 What Need to Be Done? (1) To enhance the public awareness of the importance to reducing food losses in APEC member economies To develop a comparable, consistent, and comprehensive methodology on assessing food losses across different agricultural products and across APEC economies To improve data collection and to expand data coverage on food losses at different stages of the food supply chain in each APEC member economy

14 What Need to Be Done? (2) Strengthening Cooperation Facilitate Exchanges Coordinated Strategies & Action Plans To develop concrete and coordinated strategies and action plans in reducing food losses in the APEC region by identifying specific targets and setting clear milestones for future accomplishment Use an Information Platform To consider establishing or using an existing APEC platform for reducing food losses by collecting relevant information, statistics, policy, solution, best practices, etc., as a foundation for APEC collective action To strengthening the cooperation and collaboration among APEC member economies on the policies and strategies in reducing food losses To facilitate the exchanges of policies, data information, strategies, and best practices with regard to reducing food losses among APEC member economies

15 Conclusion It is imperative for individual APEC member economy and APEC as a whole to address food losses issues. However, we need to have better following information for follow-up cooperation. Current Status What is the situation of food losses in each APEC economy? Challenges What are the most critical challenges individual APEC economy facing in terms of reducing food losses? Reducing Food Losses Policies & Strategies How does each APEC economy adopt policies and strategies to address food losses? Suggestions for APEC Cooperation How can APEC economies cooperate with each other to jointly make efforts to reduce food losses?

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