A deadly viral disease of pigs with no widely available cure. Its spread through China from 2018 reshaped world meat and feed markets.
How the World Eats / Chapter 8 of 8
GlossaryThe language of the global food system, in plain words
Every term used in this guide and in GFO signals, defined simply. Each links to the chapter where it is explained in context. 73 terms, searchable.
73 terms
A
- African swine fever
- Aquaculture
Farming fish, shellfish and aquatic plants, as opposed to catching them in the wild. Since 2022 it has been the main source of aquatic animal production 1.
- Arbitrage
Buying something where it is cheap and selling it where it is valued more, profiting from the difference. Much of the grain trade is arbitrage across places and time.
- Auction
A sale where buyers bid against each other and the price is set by competition. Global Dairy Trade is the best-known food example.
- Avian influenza
A contagious viral disease of birds, including poultry. Outbreaks lead to culls and to import bans on poultry and eggs from affected areas.
B
- Balance sheet
An estimate of a commodity's production, consumption, trade and stocks for a country or the world. The basic tool for judging whether a market is tight or well supplied.
- Basis
The difference between the local price of a commodity and the benchmark futures price. It reflects local supply, demand, transport and quality.
- Benchmark price
The reference price a market watches, usually set on a futures exchange or at an auction. Other prices are quoted as a premium or discount to it.
- Biofuel
Fuel made from crops: ethanol from corn or sugar cane, biodiesel and renewable diesel from vegetable oils. Links food prices to energy prices.
- Biosecurity
Measures to prevent, contain or eradicate animal and plant diseases and pests. One of GFO's six signal domains.
- Blending mandate
A government rule requiring a minimum share of biofuel in road fuel. Changes to mandates can move demand for corn, sugar and vegetable oils.
- Breadbasket
GFO's term for a region that produces far more food than it consumes and supplies the world market.
- Bulk carrier
A ship that carries dry cargo such as grain, oilseeds, sugar or fertiliser loose in its holds.
C
- Capture fisheries
Catching wild fish and seafood, as opposed to farming them. Global catches have been broadly stable for decades.
- Chokepoint
A narrow point on a trade route through which a large share of traffic must pass, such as a canal, strait or major port region.
- CIF
Cost, insurance and freight. A price that includes delivery to the destination port. The gap between CIF and FOB is the cost of getting there.
- Cold chain
The unbroken chain of refrigerated storage and transport needed to keep perishable food chilled or frozen from origin to shelf.
- Commodity
A standardised raw product, such as wheat or raw sugar, where one supplier's output is largely interchangeable with another's.
- Co-product
One of several products made from the same raw material, such as soybean meal and soybean oil. The processor's margin depends on their combined value.
- Crush margin
The difference between the value of the products made by crushing an oilseed (meal and oil) and the cost of the seed.
D
- Dependent importer
GFO's term for a country that cannot grow enough of what it eats and relies on the world market for important parts of its diet.
E
- Early Signal (▲)
GFO's lowest signal strength: something new or unusual that may matter, where the evidence is still limited.
- El Niño and La Niña
Opposite phases of a natural climate cycle in the Pacific Ocean that shift rainfall and temperature patterns around the world, affecting harvests.
- Emerging Trend (▲▲)
GFO's middle signal strength: a development supported by several data points or a clear pattern over time.
- Ethanol
An alcohol fuel made mainly from corn or sugar cane. Brazilian mills switch between making sugar and ethanol depending on which pays better.
- Export ban
A government rule that stops a product leaving the country, usually to protect domestic supply or prices. The most damaging form of export restriction for importers.
- Export tax
A tax on goods leaving a country. It discourages exports and keeps more supply at home.
F
- FAO Food Price Index
A monthly index of international prices for cereals, vegetable oils, dairy, meat and sugar, published by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.
- Farmgate price
The price a farmer receives for their produce, before transport, processing or retail.
- Feed
Crops and by-products fed to livestock and farmed fish, such as corn, soybean meal and wheat. A large share of the world's grain is used as feed.
- FOB
Free on board. The price of goods loaded onto a ship at the export port, before freight and insurance.
- Food inflation
The change in retail food prices in a country over time. It often behaves differently from world commodity prices.
- Food loss
Food that leaves the supply chain between harvest and retail, through spoilage, damage or waste in storage, processing and transport.
- Food security
The condition in which all people have reliable access to enough safe and nutritious food. Food insecurity is its absence.
- Foodservice
Restaurants, cafés, takeaways, hotels and institutions such as schools and hospitals. Its growth shifts value away from the farm.
- Food waste
Food discarded at retail, in restaurants and in households. Distinct from food loss earlier in the chain.
- Forward contract
A private agreement to buy or sell a commodity at a set price on a future date. Unlike a futures contract, it is not traded on an exchange.
- Freight rate
The price of shipping cargo. Rates for bulk carriers and refrigerated containers can double or triple within weeks when a route is disrupted.
- Futures contract
An exchange-traded agreement to buy or sell a set quantity and quality of a commodity at a set price on a future date. The main tool of price discovery for many foods.
G
- Global Dairy Trade
An online auction platform for dairy commodities, with main trading events twice a month. Its results are a widely watched signal for world dairy prices.
H
- Hedging
Using futures or other contracts to lock in a price and reduce exposure to price swings. Farmers, merchants and processors hedge.
- Hourglass
A common description of the food system's shape: many farms and many consumers, with a narrow middle of input suppliers, traders, processors and retailers.
- Hub
GFO's term for a country that moves, processes or re-exports food grown and eaten elsewhere, such as the Netherlands or Singapore.
I
- Incoterms
Standard trade terms published by the International Chamber of Commerce that define who pays for and is responsible for goods at each stage of delivery. FOB and CIF are two of them.
M
- Market access
Permission for a product from a given country, region or plant to be sold in a foreign market. Often granted or withdrawn for health and safety reasons.
- Maximum residue limit (MRL)
The highest level of a pesticide or veterinary drug residue legally allowed in or on food in a given market. Changes can exclude a product overnight.
N
- Net exporter / net importer
A country that exports more of a product than it imports, or the reverse. Many countries are net exporters of some foods and net importers of others.
P
- Plant registration
Approval by an importing country's authorities for a specific processing plant, such as a meat or dairy plant, to export to it.
- Price reporting agency
An organisation that surveys buyers and sellers and publishes assessed prices for markets where deals are private, such as meat and seafood.
- Price transmission
How a price change in one part of the chain or one market passes through to others. Often slow, partial and faster upward than downward.
- Private label
Products sold under a retailer's own brand. Competes directly with branded manufacturers.
- Processing, first and second stage
First-stage processing turns raw commodities into ingredients (milling, crushing, slaughter). Second-stage processing makes finished foods from those ingredients.
R
- Reefer
A refrigerated shipping container used for frozen and chilled food.
- Re-export
Goods imported into a country and then exported again, sometimes after processing or repacking. Common through trading hubs.
- Regionalisation
An agreement that allows trade to continue from disease-free parts of a country while an outbreak is contained elsewhere in it.
- Rules of origin
The criteria that decide which country a product legally comes from, which in turn decides the tariffs and rules it faces.
S
- Sanctions
Government restrictions on trade or finance with a country, company or person. Can affect food and fertiliser trade even when food itself is exempt.
- Self-sufficiency ratio
The share of a country's food consumption met by its own production, often measured in calories or value.
- Speculator
A trader who buys or sells futures to profit from price movements rather than to manage physical exposure. Adds liquidity, and can add to swings.
- Spot price
The price for immediate or near-term delivery of a commodity, as opposed to delivery at a future date.
- SPS measures
Sanitary and phytosanitary measures: rules to protect human, animal and plant health, governed internationally by a WTO agreement. They shape market access for food.
- State reserves
Stocks of staple foods held by governments for emergencies or to stabilise prices. Buying and releasing them can move world demand.
- Stocks-to-use ratio
Ending stocks divided by annual consumption. The single most useful measure of how big a market's cushion is.
- Structural Shift (▲▲▲)
GFO's highest signal strength: a change in how a market works over a sustained period. It requires at least two independent sources.
- Swing player
GFO's term for a country large enough that a change in what it buys or sells moves world prices, such as China as a buyer or India as a seller.
T
- Tariff
A tax on imported goods. It raises their price in the importing market and protects domestic producers.
- Tariff-rate quota (TRQ)
A two-tier tariff: a lower rate applies to imports up to a set quantity, and a higher rate to anything above it. Common for sensitive products such as sugar, dairy and meat.
- Tender
A formal invitation for suppliers to offer a set quantity of a product, used by many state buyers of wheat, rice, sugar and vegetable oil.
- Thin market
A market where only a small share of output is traded, so small changes in supply or demand move prices a long way. Rice is the classic example.
- Traceability
The ability to track a product back through its supply chain to its origin. Increasingly required by importers and retailers.
W
- WASDE
World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates: the US Department of Agriculture's monthly balance sheets for major crops, closely watched by markets.
- WTO
The World Trade Organization, which sets and oversees the rules of international trade, including agreements on agriculture and on health and safety measures.
Y
- Yield
Output per unit of land, such as tonnes of wheat per hectare, or per animal.
No terms match. Try a shorter word.
Sources
- FAO, The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2024, 7 June 2024↩
Last reviewed 21 September 2026