One of Canada's leading food expert says the recent drop in oil prices and the COVID-19 pandemic, will affect the entire agri-food market.
Sylvain Charlebois, a professor of food policy at Dalhousie says the turmoil is already hurting grains and livestock.
He says the Canadian dollar, which is being pounded by the markets remains the wild card. I spoke with the professor this week.
"These are interesting times. We have actually never seen an event affecting demand like the virus right now forcing people to stay home and not spend as much on food. On the supply side, Saudi Arabia has made things interesting by starting an oil price war, which has made oil cheaper around the world. Transportation is getting cheaper which is going to help when it comes to logistics."
"Right now, everything is on the table. It is hard to predict at this point, but I am convinced that supply chains remain resilient. If you look at China, for example, they are already showing signs that things are getting back to normal. They did contain this outbreak quite rapidly."
"I think that the biggest concern around the world is the United States of America. I'm not convinced that people believe that the Americans can be responsibly trying to understand this outbreak, up until Trump's address. You can see the markets aren't reassured at all. Until we know exactly what we are dealing with, it is going to be tough. I think everyone is hoping for a vaccine, and until that happens, there will be a lot of uncertainty."
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