Blooming food trade seen along Pacific rim: PECC

Blooming food trade seen along Pacific rim: PECC

SINGAPORE (AFP): Increased trade in food is expected among
countries along the Pacific rim, despite a slowdown in Southeast
Asian economies and decreased production in countries affected by
the El Nino weather phenomenon, the Pacific Economic Cooperation
Council (PECC) said yesterday.

The PECC, in its first comprehensive study and forecast of
food and agriculture systems of 20 countries bordering the
Pacific Ocean, noted that these economies export among themselves
65 percent of their food and agriculture products.

The El Nino phenomenon, however, will have a negative impact
on food production of four countries -- Colombia, Indonesia, Peru
and the Philippines.

"The ranges of production would be lower by three to five
percent in 1998 in these four countries," Constanza Valdes,
coordinator of the Pacific Food Outlook study, said at a news
briefing.

El Nino is a weather phenomenon which often surfaces around
Christmas and brings warm sea currents in the Pacific waters off
the coast of South America.

El Nino, which is Spanish for the "Child of Jesus," tends to
occur every two to seven years, bringing changing weather
patterns across the world.

It said economic growth in the PECC region is forecast at 4.1
percent for both 1997 and 1998, a third faster than the world
average.

The report noted "growing concern about the short-term outlook
for the Southeast Asian economies, given the recent currency
devaluations."

Countries affected by the devaluation such as Indonesia,
Malaysia, and Taiwan, have growing poultry industries that rely
heavily on feed imports, she noted.

"They will be seriously affected by the crisis," said Valdes,
who is an analyst with the economic research branch of the US
Department of Agriculture.

But countries such as Canada and the United States would be
exporting more of their grains, while Chile and Mexico would see
an increase in export of fruits and vegetables.

PECC is an independent, policy-oriented organization promoting
economic cooperation in the Pacific rim. It is regarded as one of
the forerunners of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)
forum which seeks to bring down trade and investment barriers by
2020.

PECC groups Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia,
Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New
Zealand, Peru, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Taiwan,
Thailand, the United States, Vietnam and the Pacific island
nations.