A new OECD policy paper takes an in-depth look at the use of export restrictions on staple crops between January 2007 an April 2024. The data show that export restrictions increased during the global food price crisis of 2007-08, the COVID-19 pandemic, and following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, with the first period witnessing a significantly higher use of export restrictions than the two subsequent crises.
Export restrictions on staple crops
The OECD database on Export Restrictions on Staple Crops gathers information on export restrictive measures on four key staple crops: wheat, maize, rice and soybeans. The database provides both standardised and highly detailed information to allow users to compare policies across commodities and countries, as well as track the evolution of specific policies over time.
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About
The OECD database on Export Restrictions on Staple Crops gathers information on export restrictive measures on four key staple crops: wheat, maize, rice and soybeans.
Data is gathered from official legal documents, government websites, and other reliable sources. Only policies that have been implemented or officially announced in a legal document have been incorporated.
Information on export restrictions has been collected since 2007 and is updated annually. The updating process begins with a verification as to whether past policies remain valid, have been terminated, or replaced by new policies. This process guarantees that the evolution of export restrictions can be traced over time.
This database is an OECD contribution to the G20 Agricultural Market Information System (AMIS) initiative. It covers the 28 AMIS countries, which include G20 members, Spain, and eight additional major exporting and importing countries of wheat, maize, rice and soybeans (the AMIS commodities).
The most recent update of the database contains export restrictions introduced between 1 January 2007 and 30 April 2024.
A recent OECD policy paper provides an overview of the export restrictions on staple crops used from January 2007 to April 2024 and gives in-depth descriptions of three periods that experienced an increase in use of these measures, namely the food price crisis of 2007-08, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the war in Ukraine.
The OECD Database on Export Restrictions on Staple Crops can be accessed in two versions: the detailed version and the aggregated version. Both versions and other relevant information can be downloaded here.
The detailed version is the complete version of the database; it contains information on each policy measure by HS Code and country, and records a significant amount of additional information, including value of the policy, conditions, exemptions, start and end dates of the policy, date of publication of the legal document, links to the legal document, and pdf versions of those links. The detailed version of the database is particularly useful to understand the timing of policies, their value, and the HS codes that were targeted or exempted. The detailed version can be the basis of in-depth policy briefs that examine for example the evolution of export restrictions in a specific country.
The aggregated version of the database collapses the information from the detailed version to facilitate visual comparisons across time, countries, policies and commodities. The aggregated version is obtained by counting, for each country, the measures with same “commodity class name,” “policy measure name,” “publication date,” “start date,” and “end date” as one. The aggregated version is the basis of the figures below.
For more information about the database fields, how the database has been developed and updated, and how to use the information, please refer to the methodology.
Highlighted data
Export restrictions - Evolution by commodity
This chart shows which AMIS countries have implemented the five main export restrictive measures (export prohibition, export quota, export tax, licensing requirement, and minimum export price) on the selected commodity class and over the selected time period.
Note 1: Policies are displayed in this figure at the commodity class level (wheat, maize, rice, soybeans, and mixed commodity). Policies without an explicit end date are shown to remain valid until the last date displayed in the graph.
Note 2: Mixed commodity classes occur when a policy measure applies to a group of commodities (e.g. an export quota that applies to certain varieties of rice and wheat).
Export restrictions - Evolution by policy
This chart shows which AMIS countries have implemented the selected export restrictive measure for the four AMIS commodities (wheat, maize, rice and soybeans) over the selected period.
Note: Policies are displayed in this figure at commodity class level (wheat, maize, rice and soybeans). Policies without an explicit end date are shown to remain valid until the last date displayed in the graph.
Export restrictions - Composition by commodity
This figure shows the composition by commodity of the five main export restrictive measures combined (export prohibition, export quota, export tax, licensing requirement, and minimum export price) in all AMIS countries over the selected period. Data are at the month/year level.
Note 1: Policies are counted as follows: for each country the measures in the OECD Database on Export Restrictions on Staple Crops which have the same "commodity class name", " policy measure name", "publication date”, “start date" and "end date" are counted as one.
Note 2: Mixed commodity classes occur when a policy measure applies to a group of commodities (e.g. an export quota that applies to certain varieties of rice and wheat).
Export restrictions - Composition by policy
This figure shows the composition by export restrictive measure on the four AMIS commodities combined (wheat, maize, rice and soybeans) in all AMIS countries over the selected period. Data are at the month/year level.
Note: Policies are counted as follows: for each country the measures in the OECD Database on Export Restrictions on Staple Crops which have the same "commodity class name", " policy measure name", "publication date", "start date" and "end date" are counted as one.
Export restrictions - Duration
This figure shows the duration of the selected export restrictive measures that were introduced in the selected period. Data are at the month/year level.
Note: Policies are counted as follows: for each country the measures in the OECD Database on Export Restrictions on Staple Crops which have the same "commodity class name", " policy measure name", "publication date", "start date" and "end date" are counted as one.