The State of Agricultural Commodity Markets 2020 (SOCO 2020) aims to discuss policies and mechanisms that promote sustainable outcomes – economic, social and environmental – in agricultural and food markets, both global and domestic. The analysis is organized along the trends and challenges that lie at the heart of global discussions on trade and development. These include the evolution of trade and markets; the emergence of global value chains in food and agriculture; the extent to which smallholder farmers in developing countries participate in value chains and markets; and the transformative impacts of digital technology on markets. Along these themes, SOCO 2020 discusses policies and institutions that can promote inclusive economic growth and also harness markets to contribute towards the realization of the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals.

Global agricultural trade has increased significantly in value terms since 2000. Its pattern has also changed – emerging economies and developing countries play a bigger role in international markets, and South–South agricultural trade has expanded significantly. Climate change is expected to affect agriculture, food security and nutrition unevenly across countries and regions. Changes in comparative advantage in agriculture around the world will also affect international trade. This edition of The State of Agricultural Commodity Markets focuses on the complex and underexplored intersection between agricultural trade, climate change and food security. The report makes an important contribution to the policy debates on climate change adaptation and mitigation under the Paris Agreement and the multilateral agricultural trade rules. The report discusses policies – both domestic support and trade measures – that can promote food security, adaptation and mitigation, and improve the livelihoods of family farmers around the world. Given both the slow- and rapid-onset impacts of climate change, policies that can significantly promote climate change adaptation and mitigation would benefit from deeper discussions in international fora on how to strengthen the mutually supportive role of trade rules and climate interventions.

TheState of Agricultural Commodity Markets 2006 focuses on the question of why the development and food security needs of developing countries need to be better reflected in the design and implementation of new agreements on further liberalization of international agricultural markets, and on the mechanisms under discussion to achieve this goal. In the WTO Doha Development Round, how to safeguard the interests of enveloping countries, especially the lower-income countries, has proved to be highly topical but is also problematic: the issues and arguments are complex and sometimes controversial. The stalling of the Doha Round in July 2006 has provided an opportunity to revisit the issues of how future reductions in import tariffs on agricultural products will affect different developing countries, whether there might be any negative repercussions of further liberalization and, if so, how these might be addressed in the formulation of new trade rules.