World Food Board Proposal

MAC/WFY

Page-32

0230_553559_08_cha04

International Commodity Clearing
House

The departure of Boyd Orr did not signal the end of his ambitious proposal and the
problems they were designed to overcome. It was obvious that his bold aim was
metaphorically and politically `a bridge too far' but as a platform for venting the
desires of many governments, especially the poorer and smaller ones, it was invalu-
able. And the issues it raised were to be addressed for many years to come. There-
fore, it was understandable that the next director-general of FAO, Norris E. Dodd
from the United States (194853), who had strongly supported the WFB proposal
at the Copenhagen conference in 1946, should seek to salvage what he considered
to be some of its more acceptable elements. The opportunity presented itself when
the FAO Council, which met in Paris in June 1949, requested the FAO director-
general to report on the underlying causes of emerging commodity trade problems
and present recommendations for possible action by governments. A group experts
was appointed, with John B. Conliffe of the University of California as chairman,
`to propose measures for promoting the balanced expansion of world trade in
agricultural products', in order to assist the FAO director-general make his recom-
mendations, no doubt taking the experience of what had happened to the WFB
proposal into account.

The global food supply situation had gradually improved since the proposal for

a WFB was first introduced. The world food situation had again become char-
acterized by surpluses of certain commodities, particularly in the dollar area,
though supplies in other parts of the world were still only barely sufficient or
even scarce. It became apparent that food import needs existed that could not
be met from available stocks for lack of foreign exchange in food-deficit coun-
tries. The immediate problem was diagnosed as an accumulation of surpluses
in hard currency countries (principally the US dollar area) while countries with
weak inconvertible currencies found it difficult to import food on commercial
terms.

This led to the expert group's proposal for a kind of barter scheme, called an

International Commodity Clearing House (ICCH), as a public corporation with an
authorized capital fund equivalent to $5 billion, as an operating organization and
action arm of FAO, with the following functions:

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Useful links	World Food Board Proposal MAC/WFY Page-32 0230_553559_08_cha04 4 International Commodity Clearing House The departure of Boyd Orr did not signal the end of his ambitious proposal and the problems they were designed to overcome. It was obvious that his bold aim was metaphorically and politically `a bridge too far' but as a platform for venting the desires of many governments, especially the poorer and smaller ones, it was invalu- able. And the issues it raised were to be addressed for many years to come. There- fore, it was understandable that the next director-general of FAO, Norris E. Dodd from the United States (194853), who had strongly supported the WFB proposal at the Copenhagen conference in 1946, should seek to salvage what he considered to be some of its more acceptable elements. The opportunity presented itself when the FAO Council, which met in Paris in June 1949, requested the FAO director- general to report on the underlying causes of emerging commodity trade problems and present recommendations for possible action by governments. A group experts was appointed, with John B. Conliffe of the University of California as chairman, `to propose measures for promoting the balanced expansion of world trade in agricultural products', in order to assist the FAO director-general make his recom- mendations, no doubt taking the experience of what had happened to the WFB proposal into account. The global food supply situation had gradually improved since the proposal for a WFB was first introduced. The world food situation had again become char- acterized by surpluses of certain commodities, particularly in the dollar area, though supplies in other parts of the world were still only barely sufficient or even scarce. It became apparent that food import needs existed that could not be met from available stocks for lack of foreign exchange in food-deficit coun- tries. The immediate problem was diagnosed as an accumulation of surpluses in hard currency countries (principally the US dollar area) while countries with weak inconvertible currencies found it difficult to import food on commercial terms. This led to the expert group's proposal for a kind of barter scheme, called an International Commodity Clearing House (ICCH), as a public corporation with an authorized capital fund equivalent to $5 billion, as an operating organization and action arm of FAO, with the following functions: 32 back to top Next page
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