by isis almeida and agnieszka de sousaits not just grocery shoppers who are hoarding pantry staples some governments are moving to secure domestic food supplies during the conoravirus pandemickazakhstan one of the worlds biggest shippers of wheat flour banned exports of that product along with others including carrots sugar and potatoes serbia has stopped the flow of its sunflower oil and other goods russia is leaving the door open to shipment bans and said its assessing the situation weeklyto be perfectly clear there have been just a handful of moves and no sure signs that much more is on the horizon still whats been happening has raised a question is this the start of a wave of food nationalism that will further disrupt supply chains and trade flows advt were starting to see this happening already and all we can see is that the lockdown is going to get worse said tim benton research director in emerging risks at think tank chatham house in londonthough food supplies are ample logistical hurdles are making it harder to get products where they need to be as the coronavirus unleashes unprecedented measures panic buying and the threat of labor crunches consumers across the globe are still loading their pantries and the economic fallout from the virus is just starting the specter of more trade restrictions is stirring memories of how protectionism can often end up causing more harm than good that adage rings especially true now as the moves would be driven by anxiety and not made in response to crop failures or other supply problemsas it is many governments have employed extreme measures setting curfews and limits on crowds or even on people venturing out for anything but to acquire essentials that could spill over to food policy said ann berg an independent consultant and veteran agricultural trader who started her career at louis dreyfus co in 1974you could see wartime rationing price controls and domestic stockpiling she saidsome nations are adding to their strategic reserves china the biggest rice grower and consumer pledged to buy more than ever before from its domestic harvest even though the government already holds massive stockpiles of rice and wheat enough for one year of consumption advt key wheat importers including algeria and turkey have also issued new tenders and morocco said a suspension on wheatimport duties would last through midjuneas governments take nationalistic approaches they risk disrupting an international system that has become increasingly interconnected in recent decadeskazakhstan had already stopped exports of other food staples like buckwheat and onions before the move this week to cut off wheatflour shipments that latest action was a much bigger step with the potential to affect companies around the world that rely on the supplies to make breadfor some commodities a handful of countries or even fewer make up the bulk of exportable supplies disruptions to those shipments would have major global ramifications take for example russia which has emerged as the worlds top wheat exporter