Food Panic Recedes for Now as Nations Row Back Export Curbs

  • Countries from Vietnam to Kazakhstan start to ease limits
  • Protectionist measures had emerged as pandemic risks escalated
Harvested rice grain is transferred into a truck.Photographer: Tomohiro Ohsumi/Bloomberg
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The wave of protectionist measures on agricultural goods that emerged as the coronavirus spread around the world has already begun to recede.

Of at least 17 countries that sought to limit food exports to protect local supplies, about half have backtracked all or some of the measures, according to a tracker from the International Food Policy Research Institute. That includes several major grain shippers such as Vietnam and Romania, although top wheat exporter Russia has kept its curbs in place.