Current State of Food Security in the Eurasian Economic Union Countries

Abstract

The paper aims at assessing a current state of food security in the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) countries. The author considers key aspects of food security: economic and physical access to food, and food self-sufficiency. This includes analysis of official data on average per capita consumption of basic foods (in comparison with established nutrition standards), the dietary energy value, and a share of food expenses in consumer spending structure. The author also presents his estimates of actual and normative consumer spending by households in various 10% income groups (based on data of sample household surveys), as well as estimates of imports share in domestic consumption of basic agricultural products. The analysis shows that accepted food security criteria are formally fulfilled for most products in all EAEU countries except Kyrgyzstan. At the same time, a significant part of households has limited ability to purchase food in required volumes and assortment. In addition, it is shown that the bulk of food imports comes from the other EAEU countries. This implies lower risks of external shocks in agricultural products supply and makes it possible to mitigate the criteria of food self-sufficiency in the EAEU countries.