1.3 billion tons of food – costing US$750 billion – is lost or wasted each year due to supply chain inefficiency, according a World Economic Forum report drafted in collaboration with Boston consultancy Bain & Company. The study found that overly strict product standards, poor transportation infrastructure, border delays, and poor business climates are the main causes of this. “Attacking these barriers would help improve the livelihoods of billions of the world’s poorest people, and cut emissions, energy and water use,” it said. A strategy of border and behind-the-border reforms, including consistent safety and environment standards, has the potential to tackle these problems and help countries to translate the Bali trade accords “into tangible economic gains,” said Richard Samans, a managing director of the World Economic Forum.
