Order Code RS21279
Updated October 18, 2006
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
Knowledge Services Group
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
1995-2005. 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 the annual total food aid (see Figure 1) donated by
members of the Food Aid Committee of the International Grains Council (IGC) and
signatories of the 1999 Food Aid Convention.1 U.S. contributions increased from around
2.8 million metric tons (mmt) measured in wheat equivalent in 1995/1996 to about 5.4
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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Figure 1. Food Aid by Major Donors, 1995-2005
mmt in 2004/2005 (see
Appendix Table 1).2 U.S.
EU 25.2%
contributions averaged 5 mmt
Japan 5.9%
annually. Food aid from the
European Union (including
food aid provided by the
Canada 4.9%
European Commission and
Australia 3.0%
by individual EU member
countries) has been more
Other 1.7%
stable and averaged around
2.1 mmt or 25% of average
annual food aid shipments.
Japan and Canada provided
6% and 5%, respectively,
USA 59.2%
of the total from major
donors. Japan’s contribu-
tions are provided as cash
Source: Food Aid Shipments 2004/05, International Grains Council Food Aid Committee.
rather than commodities.
Because the IGC’s food aid data are reported on a July/June marketing year basis,
they do not correspond, for example, to fiscal year food aid data reported by the U.S.
Department of Agriculture in budget documents or by the U.S. Agency for International
Development 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
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 and private corporations, contribute to the
WFP. The United States is the major donor, providing over the last ten years around 47%
of total WFP contributions (see Figure 2 and Appendix Table 2). Over that same ten-
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 6%. The remaining donors combined provided
about 16% 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.
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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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
Figure 2. Food Aid Contributions to the World
between major donors. The
Food Program, 1996-2006*
food aid commitment under
the FAC was a minimum
USA 47.4%
commitment and was in-
tended to be a guarantee of
food security for low-
income developing coun-
tries. The signatories of the
FAC were Argentina, Austra
lia, Canada, the European
Japan 6.4%
Union and its member
Other 16.0%
countries, Japan, Norway,
Switzerland, and the United
States. Signatories could
provide more than their
EU 30.2%
minimum commitment. The
current FAC was negotiated
*Data as of October 9, 2006.
in 1999 and expired in 2003.
Source: World Food Programme.
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
Figure 3. Food Aid Commitments under the Food recent FAC (1999-2003)
Aid Convention, 1999
was 4.9 mmt (see Figure 3
and Appendix Table 2).
EU 27.0%
The United States made the
largest commitment, 2.5
Canada 8.6%
mmt or 51% of the total.
Japan 6.1%
The combined EU commit-
Norway 0.6%
Australia 5.1%
ment was around 27%.
Switzerland 0.8%
Argentina 0.7%
Commitments by Canada,
Japan, and Australia were,
respectively, 8.6%, 6.1%,
and 5.1%. Only two of eight
FAC signatories (Norway
and the United States) have
met or exceeded their FAC
USA 51.1%
commitments on average
over the life of the FAC
Source: International Grains Council Food Aid Committee, Food Aid Convention.
(1999-2003).

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Although the FAC expired in 2003, a working committee of the IGC has been
established to prepare for its renegotiation.4 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 agreed that the existing
FAC should be extended for a further two-year period after July 1, 2005. Concurrently,
trade-related aspects of food aid are being negotiated in the multilateral trade round
known as the Doha Development Agenda (DDA). Renegotiation of the FAC, however,
appears unlikely until the DDA trade negotiations have been concluded. Now that Doha
Round negotiations have been indefinitely suspended, the future of the FAC is uncertain.
Table 1. Annual Commitments under the 1999 Food Aid Convention
(metric tons wheat equivalent)
Average Food
Annual
Aid Shipments
Commitments
Percent
1999-2003
Percent
Argentina
35,000
0.72%
553
0.01%
Australia
250,000
5.11%
235,242
2.42%
Canada
420,000
8.58%
386,859
3.98%
EU
1,320,000
26.97%
2,072,822
21.34%
Japan
300,000
6.13%
550,945
5.67%
Norway
30,000
0.61%
109,318
1.13%
Switzerland
40,000
0.82%
62,217
0.64%
USA
2,500,000
51.07%
6,294,145
64.81%
Total
4,895,000
100.00%
9,712,101
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, 1995-2005
(in metric tons wheat equivalent)
Annual Average
1995/96
1996/97
1997/98
1998/99
1999/00
2000/01
2001/02
2002/03
2003/04
2004/05
Total
Percent Metric Tons
Argentina
13,400
10,135
2,740
26
26,301
0.03%
2,630
Australia
298,146
305,127
293,221
273,064
296,713
251,865
245,828
203,820
177,984
168,083
2,513,851
2.99%
251,385
Canada
448,764
468,431
417,917
487,095
470,640
293,477
408,209
451,537
310,430
396,405
4,152,905
4.94%
415,291
EU
2,413,991
2,049,691
2,201,162
1,969,892
1,970,768
2,357,778
1,836,717 1,980,781 2,218,065
2,151,958
21,150,803
25.17%
2,115,080
Japan
474,870
326,835
302,626
561,643
337,357
637,749
531,755
666,910
580,953
578,261
4,998,959
5.95%
499,896
Norway
6,233
32,816
19,306
61,293
75,960
85,876
74,318
144,927
165,510
145,586
811,825
0.97%
81,183
Switzerland
75,479
38,636
57,915
38,939
61,295
54,169
58,042
67,892
69,689
71,854
593,910
0.71%
59,391
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 5,801,724
5,363,186
49,789,198
59.25%
4,978,920
Total
6,580,267
5,774,819
6,110,647
8,136,182
8,907,589 10,479,194 10,279,302 9,570,064 9,324,355
8,875,333
84,037,752
100.00%
8,403,775
Source: International Grains Council Food Aid Committee, Food Aid Shipments 2001-2005.

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Appendix Table 2. Food Aid Contributions to the World Food Program, 1996-2006
(thousand dollars)
As of
October 9,
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
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 1,174,918
932,164 10,048,510
European Union
603,981
550,522
522,397
461,800
442,495
436,559
560,653
620,929
692,984
876,111
638,761
6,407,192
EU Commission
196,873
237,254
184,645
168,098
117,509
118,411
179,205
201,463
200,501
263,940
225,163
2,093,061
EU Countries
407,108
313,269
337,752
293,702
324,986
318,149
381,448
419,466
492,483
612,171
413,598
4,314,131
Austria
4,774
4,910
3,853
3,710
2,854
1,117
3,302
2,199
2,189
4,344
1,839
35,091
Belgium
19,472
17,416
16,908
10,782
6,284
5,294
5,748
8,480
10,750
13,952
10,303
125,388
Cyprus*
5
400
405
Czech Republic*
98
1,236
308
1,642
Denmark
53,064
44,248
43,384
46,900
41,908
39,385
39,964
39,335
43,247
52,838
40,410
484,683
Finland
16,045
13,768
13,801
15,345
15,219
14,467
17,445
17,793
17,860
23,557
13,868
179,168
France
19,203
21,884
24,742
27,693
26,170
35,929
14,457
14,939
30,288
37,676
21,303
274,284
Germany
96,036
68,487
61,779
53,089
46,750
58,088
60,920
46,458
65,126
70,721
49,160
676,614
Greece
150
170
25
1
130
200
16
3,637
2,193
6,522
Hungary*
65
120
65
250
Ireland
3,149
4,284
4,378
5,021
7,639
7,317
10,390
11,815
13,684
19,708
23,934
111,317
Italy
34,876
9,112
10,632
20,817
19,936
36,060
38,016
40,480
47,613
47,908
7,333
312,784
Lithuania*
37
37
Luxembourg
218
270
130
1,205
1,735
2,919
3,913
5,413
10,681
4,759
31,243
Netherlands
78,804
45,972
45,532
55,003
62,801
59,481
58,795
50,422
77,738
115,348
71,551
721,447
Poland*
356
200
200
756
Slovakia*
25
30
49
104
Slovenia*
33
97
130
Spain
13,720
12,245
2,725
2,511
3,256
3,946
2,607
5,357
17,553
11,595
16,430
91,945
Sweden
33,164
35,985
29,511
28,415
30,778
27,711
31,167
42,341
44,540
84,259
57,873
445,745
United Kingdom
34,434
34,789
80,212
24,284
60,056
27,620
95,718
135,734
115,884
114,264
91,583
814,577
Japan
124,032
98,991
123,757
106,438
260,099
91,139
92,896
129,938
135,730
160,528
40,963
1,364,511
All Others
222,166
253,647
204,811
268,274
252,853
165,999
222,338
362,983
342,017
515,410
575,959
3,386,457
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 2,726,967 2,187,847 21,206,670
* Joined European Union in 2004.
Source: World Food Program.

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