Latin America and the Caribbean: the challenges of global agricultural trade

The combination of various worldwide demographic, economic and social trends highlights the potential that the agricultural export sector holds for Latin America and the Caribbean. The most recent projections indicate that the world population, currently around 7.3 billion, will reach 9.5 billion by 2050. Nearly all of this increase (roughly equal to the total present populations of China and India) will take place in developing countries, especially in Africa and Asia. In addition to their robust economic growth, these two continents are going through an accelerated process of urbanization and expansion of the middle class. All of this creates significant room for food exports from the region, which has traditionally produced a surplus in this sector. In this context, the agricultural, agro-industrial, aquaculture and forestry sectors can make an important contribution to regional development, not only as generators of foreign exchange, but also in terms of value added and the diversification of output and exports.

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