Order Code RS21279
Updated May 2, 2005
CRS Report for Congress
Received through the CRS Web
International Food Aid:
U.S. and Other Donor Contributions
Charles E. Hanrahan
Senior Specialist in Agricultural Policy
Resources, Science, and Industry Division
Carol Canada
Technical Information Specialist
Resources, Science, and Industry Division
Summary
The United States is the world’s major provider of international food aid to low-
income developing countries. This report provides three indicators of the U.S.
contribution to global food aid: (1) shipments of major donors compiled by the
International Grains Council, (2) U.S. contributions to the United Nations World Food
Program (WFP), and (3) the U.S. commitment under the Food Aid Convention (FAC).
U.S. food aid accounted for 59% of food aid shipments by major donors during
1995-2003. A substantial portion of U.S. food aid is channeled through the WFP.
During 1996-2004, around 48% of the food aid distributed by the WFP came from the
United States. The Food Aid Convention (FAC), now expired, was an agreement
among donor countries to provide a minimum amount of food aid to low-income
developing countries. The food aid commitment by all FAC signatories was
approximately 4.9 million metric tons (mmt). The United States pledged to provide 2.5
mmt or 51% of the total commitment.
Contributions of Major Donors to International Food Aid
The United States is the major contributor to international food aid, supplying on
average, since 1995, around 59% of annual total food aid (see Figure 1) provided by
donors who are members of the Food Aid Committee of the International Grains Council
and signatories of the 1999 Food Aid Convention.1 U.S. contributions increased from
1 Information on the International Grains Council, the Food Aid Convention, and the Food Aid
Committee is available at [http://www.igc.org.uk/].
Congressional Research Service ˜ The Library of Congress

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around 2.8 million metric
Figure 1. Food Aid by Major Donors, 1995-2003
tons (mmt) measured in
wheat equivalent in 1995/
EU 25.5%
1996 to about 6.1 mmt in
Japan 5.7%
2002/2003 (see Appendix
Table 1).2 U.S. contribu-
Canada 5.2%
tions averaged 4.8 mmt
annually. Food aid from
Austr alia 3.3%
the European Union (in-
Other 1.5%
cluding food aid provided
by the European Com-
mission and by individual
member countries of the
EU) has been more stable
and averaged around 2.1
USA 58.8%
mmt or 26% of average
annual food aid ship-
ments. Japan and Canada
provided 5.7% and 5.2%,
respectively, of the total
Figure 2. Food Aid Contributions to the World
from major donors.
Japan’s contributions are
Food Programme, 1996-2005*
provided as cash rather
U.S. 48.1%
than commodities.
Because food aid data
are reported on a July/
June marketing year ba-
sis, they do not corre-
spond, for example, to
fiscal year food aid data
reported by the U.S.
All Others 14.4%
Department of Agricul-
Total EU 30.2%
ture in budget documents
Japan 7.3%
or by the U.S. Agency for
International Develop-
* Data as of April 11, 2 005.
ment in annual food aid
reports. The source of the
data in Figure 1 and
Appendix Table 1 is the annual report Food Aid Shipments, prepared by the Food Aid
Committee of the International Grains Council.3
2 Data on food aid shipments provided by the International Grains Council are reported on a
marketing year basis (July-June).
3 International Grains Council, Food Aid Committee, Food Aid Shipments 2002/2003: Report
on Shipments by Members of the Food Aid Convention, July 2004.

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Food Aid Contributions to the World Food Program
Most U.S. food aid is provided on a bilateral basis, but a substantial portion is
channeled through the United Nations World Food Program (WFP), the
intergovernmental agency that provides food aid for development projects and
humanitarian relief in low income countries. More than 56 donors, mainly countries, but
also some non-governmental organizations like the International Red Cross, contribute
to the WFP. The United States is the major donor, providing over the last nine years
around 48% of total WFP contributions (see Figure 2 and Appendix Table 2). Over that
same nine-year period, the EU (again combining European Commission with EU member
countries’ contributions) accounted for around 30% of total WFP contributions. Japan,
whose contributions are in cash, provided around 7%. The remaining donors combined
provided about 14% to WFP food aid resources. Donor contributions to the WFP are not
in addition to, but are included in, the data reported in Figure 1 and Appendix Table 1.
Commitments under the Food Aid Convention
The Food Aid Convention (FAC), first agreed to in 1968 during the Kennedy Round
multilateral trade negotiations held under the auspices of the General Agreements on
Tariffs and Trade (GATT), was an international agreement that constituted a framework
of cooperation on food aid
between major donors. The
Figure 3. Food Aid Commitments
food aid commitment under the
under the Food Aid Convention, 1999
FAC was a minimum commit-
ment and was intended to be a
EU 27.0%
guarantee of food security for
low-income developing coun-
Canada 8.6%
tries. The signatories of the
Japan 6.1%
FAC were Argentina, Australia,
Norway 0.6%
Australia 5.1%
Switzerland 0.8%
Canada, the European Union
Argentina 0.7%
and its member countries,
Japan, Norway, Switzerland,
and the United States. Signa-
tories could provide more than
their minimum commitment.
USA 51.1%
The current FAC was negotiated
in 1999 and expired in 2003.
Under the FAC, the donors could express their annual food aid commitments in
either tonnage or in value, but most continue to use the former. Japan is the major
exception, although the EU also provides some food aid in the form of cash. The total
commitment under the most recent FAC (1999-2003) was 4.9 mmt (see Figure 3 and
Appendix Table 2). The United States made the largest commitment, 2.5 mmt or 51%
of the total. The combined EU commitment was around 27%. Commitments by Canada,
Japan, and Australia were, respectively, 8.6%, 6.1%, and 5.1%. Seven of eight FAC
signatories have exceeded their FAC commitments in each of the last six years. Only
Argentina has not met its FAC commitment.

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Although the FAC expired in 2003, a working committee of the International Grains
Council has been established to prepare for its renegotiation.4 Concurrently, trade-related
aspects of food aid are being negotiated in the multilateral trade round known as the Doha
Development Agenda (DDA). The Food Aid Committee of the IGC continues to meet
periodically to review donor food aid contributions in relation to commitments under the
1999 FAC and to global food needs and has agreed that the existing FAC should be
extended for a further two-year period after July 1, 2005. Renegotiation of the FAC,
however, appears unlikely until the DDA trade negotiations have been concluded.
Table 1. Annual Commitments under the 1999 Food Aid Convention
(metric tons wheat equivalent)
Argentina
35,000
0.72%
Australia
250,000
5.11%
Canada
420,000
8.58%
EU
1,320,000
26.97%
Japan
300,000
6.13%
Norway
30,000
0.61%
Switzerland
40,000
0.82%
USA
2,500,000
51.07%
Total
4,895,000
100.00%
Source: International Grains Council Food Aid Committee, The Food
Aid Convention.
4 IGC-FAC Press Release, 8 December 2004, available at [http://www.igc.org.uk/press/
pr041208.htm].

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Appendix Table 1. Food Aid by Major Donor, 1995-2003
(in metric tons wheat equivalent)
Annual Average
Metric
1995/96
1996/97
1997/98
1998/99
1999/00
2000/01
2001/02
2002/03
Total
Percent
Tons
Argentina
13,400
10,135
2,740
26,275
0.04%
3,284
Australia
298,146
305,127
293,221
273,064
296,713
251,865
245,828
203,820
2,167,784
3.30%
270,973
Canada
448,764
468,431
417,917
487,095
470,640
272,925
393,367
451,537
3,410,676
5.19%
426,335
EU
2,413,991
2,049,691
2,201,162
1,969,892
1,970,768
2,341,277
1,836,717
1,980,781 16,764,279
25.52% 2,095,535
Japan
474,870
326,835
302,626
561,643
337,357
635,158
453,735
668,557
3,760,781
5.73%
470,098
Norway
6,233
32,816
19,306
61,293
75,960
79,857
74,318
134,692
484,475
0.74%
60,559
Switzerland
75,479
38,636
57,915
38,939
61,295
50,804
58,042
67,892
449,002
0.68%
56,125
USA
2,849,384
2,553,283
2,818,500
4,734,121
5,692,116
6,798,280
7,124,407
6,054,197 38,624,288
58.80% 4,828,036
Total
6,580,267
5,774,819
6,110,647
8,136,182
8,907,589 10,430,166 10,186,414
9,561,476 65,687,560 100.00% 8,210,945
Source: International Grains Council Food Aid Committee, Food Aid Shipments 2001-2003.

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Appendix Table 2. Food Aid Contributions to the World Food Program, 1996-2005
(thousand dollars)
As of
April 11,
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
Total
United States of
America
494,980
408,380
876,284
718,856
795,676
1,210,543
933,217
1,459,324
1,044,168
313,021
8,254,449
European Union
603,981
550,522
522,397
461,800
442,495
436,559
560,653
620,929
692,984
295,763
5,188,083
EU Commission
196,873
237,254
184,645
168,098
117,509
118,411
179,205
201,463
200,501
59,059
1,663,017
EU Countries
407,108
313,269
337,752
293,702
324,986
318,149
381,448
419,466
492,483
236,704
3,525,066
Austria
4,774
4,910
3,853
3,710
2,854
1,117
3,302
2,199
2,189
1,165
30,073
Belgium
19,472
17,416
16,908
10,782
6,284
5,294
5,748
8,480
10,750
5,979
107,112
Cyprus*
5
5
Czech Republic*
98
541
639
Denmark
53,064
44,248
43,384
46,900
41,908
39,385
39,964
39,335
43,247
38,887
430,322
Finland
16,045
13,768
13,801
15,345
15,219
14,467
17,445
17,793
17,860
4,071
145,814
France
19,203
21,884
24,742
27,693
26,170
35,929
14,457
14,939
30,288
9,954
225,259
Germany
96,036
68,487
61,779
53,089
46,750
58,088
60,920
46,458
65,126
17,052
573,785
Greece
150
170
25
1
130
200
16
236
928
Hungary*
65
120
185
Ireland
3,149
4,284
4,378
5,021
7,639
7,317
10,390
11,815
13,684
4,699
72,374
Italy
34,876
9,112
10,632
20,817
19,936
36,060
38,016
40,480
47,613
7,196
264,739
Luxembourg
218
270
130
1,205
1,735
2,919
3,913
5,413
2,746
18,549
Netherlands
78,804
45,972
45,532
55,003
62,801
59,481
58,795
50,422
77,738
62,693
597,241
Poland*
356
356
Slovak. Republic*
25
30
55
Slovenia*
33
33
Spain
13,720
12,245
2,725
2,511
3,256
3,946
2,607
5,357
17,553
3,938
67,858
Sweden
33,164
35,985
29,511
28,415
30,778
27,711
31,167
42,341
44,540
61,879
365,492
United Kingdom
34,434
34,789
80,212
24,284
60,056
27,620
95,718
135,734
115,884
15,518
624,248
Japan
124,032
98,991
123,757
106,438
260,099
91,139
92,896
129,938
135,730
93,781
1,256,801
All Others
222,166
253,647
204,811
268,274
252,853
165,999
222,338
362,983
342,017
176,299
2,471,387
TOTAL
1,445,159
1,311,540
1,727,248
1,555,369
1,751,123
1,904,241
1,809,104
2,573,174
2,214,899
878,864
17,170,720
* Joined European Union in 2004.
Source: World Food Program.

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