| Abstract
| - Summary/Résumé. The economic and environmental affects of European agricultural policies on the LDCs, as manifested mainly through their impact on trade, are illustrated with examples for selected commodities. The process of state-aided growth of European agriculture has passed its peak and there is little scope for further growth through exports, no matter that the net food import requirements of the LDCs will continue to grow. Part of this growth will be offset by reduced net imports of the ex-USSR. The policy reforms under way mean that Europe is likely to lose market share, as competing exporters (Australia, North America) will supply most of the additional net imports. European import demand for the major LDC tropical exportables is unlikely to be buoyant, given the nearly saturated markets in Western Europe, while the considerable scope for consumption growth in the ex-USSR and Eastern Europe is unlikely to translate into effective import demand in the foreseeable future. The LDCs are likely to turn from net agricultural exporters into growing net importers. The growing food import bill of many low-income LDCs will continue to be a major issue in world food security, particularly if food aid flows were to beadversely affected by the eventual reduction or disappearance of food surpluses in Europe and elsewhere
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