EU Food System Strengths and Vulnerabilities during Covid‐19

Matthews, Alan

The performance of the EU food system during the early stages of the Covid‐19 pandemic is examined in this article. The preliminary evidence from the early lockdown period in March to June 2020 supports the view that, apart from some experiences of empty supermarket shelves in the very first days of lockdown caused by hoarding by consumers, the EU food system has been remarkably resilient. EU farmers, processors and retailers have maintained food supplies to EU consumers and adjusted to the shift in demand caused by the lockdowns in the food service sector. Farm prices fell after lockdowns were introduced but, with some notable exceptions, such as flowers, the fall in prices has been limited. Consumer food prices, on the contrary, increased but this seems to have been a temporary phenomenon. The response to the pandemic has revealed the limitations in the EU’s crisis response mechanism particularly where market support may be needed. The argument of some EU leaders that local food systems should be supported as a way of increasing the resilience of the food system to future shocks does not have empirical support. Policies in the future should support firms in building more robust and resilient supply chains and not undermine food security built on misconceptions about how supply chains performed during the Covid‐19 pandemic.