Russia, Egypt and Nigeria are among the five countries that have yet to contribute data to the Agricultural Market Information System set up by Group of 20 countries to avoid a repeat of the 2007-08 food-price crisis. The others are Kazakhstan and Saudi Arabia, said David Hallam, head of markets and trade at the United Nations’ Food & Agriculture Organization, in an interview in Geneva yesterday. Russia was the world’s third-largest wheat exporter in 2011-12, and Egypt was the biggest buyer of the grain, while Nigeria is the world’s biggest rice importer, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates. Rice prices surged in 2008, after the Philippines failed to fill a rice tender following export restrictions by countries including Vietnam and India. That dragged up prices for all grains and pushed global food prices to a record. AMIS has “fairly complete� data for 18 members and “really no useful data at all� from the other five, Hallam said. AMIS consists of the G-20 members and seven countries that are large consumers or producers of farm products. “All of the countries we’re working with, there isn’t a single one saying they won’t collaborate,� Hallam said. AMIS was set up to improve data on stocks and production of corn, wheat, rice and soybeans with the goal of reducing price swings. To fill in the gaps for countries that haven’t directly provided figures, AMIS uses publicly available information as well as data from the International Grains Council and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, according to Hallam. The five countries have failed to provide data “for a variety of reasons, technical and organizational,� the FAO director said. “Until we get everybody supplying data which is comprehensive and up to the standards we want, we’re looking at another couple of years,� Hallam said. “This whole exercise is a long-term effort. It’s a similar effort as what was done for oil, and that took eight or nine years.� Russia faces “an organizational issue� and a resolution may be reached at an AMIS meeting in April, Hallam said. Russia’s agriculture ministry wasn’t able to make an immediate comment when called by Bloomberg today. Hallam said some countries have been more willing and capable to provide information on production and stocks than may have been expected. “China is a very active participant,� the FAO director said. “Ukraine is one of the star performers. Indonesia is in the top group of providing everything.� To contact the reporter on this story: Rudy Ruitenberg in Paris at rruitenberg@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Claudia Carpenter at ccarpenter2@bloomberg.net

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