Germany, Coronavirus and Food Chatter

There is a great piece up on ARD (public TV in Germany, Channel One) which talks to the issue of food shortages (fake shortages I might emphasize) and the Coronavirus.  I strongly recommend a read of it (in German though, unless you use Chrome as the browser).

So right off the bat....using data from 2017/2018....they establish that there is no way possible for Germany to be short on milk, pork, potatoes, cheese, and wheat.  There's more than enough produced within Germany.....way above the 100-percent line. 

But.....if you talk about fruit and vegetables....Germany only produces 13-percent of it's fruit (I would imagine apples and strawberries are at the top of that list) and 38-percent of it's vegetables.  You see a lot of products from Spain, Italy, and France to make up the rest. 

Generally, if you browse through a German grocery.....a fair sum of fruit and vegetables come from within the EU itself.  In the non-production period (fall and winter).....if you look through most grocery operations....imports come from Chile, Peru, South Africa, and various southern hemisphere countries. 

ARD does state clearly....around 1.9 percent of food imports do come from China.  In this group....food additives, sweeteners, and flavor enhancers are part of the Chinese group being brought into Germany.  It's also pointed out that a major producer of pistachios is Iran, and any disruption with their market....hurts the import of pistachio nuts.

So in blunt words.....Germany is not about to suffer any kind of food shortage because of the Coronavirus.  As for the food additives and flavor enhancer market?  I would make a guess that several other countries (probably Brazil among them) could make up this shortage if it did come to exist.  Even EU countries like Greece might see a market to jump into and make some capital.