Agricultural Market Information System (AMIS)

The Agricultural Market Information System (AMIS) is an inter-agency platform to enhance food market transparency and policy response for food security. It was launched in 2011 by the G20 Ministers of Agriculture following the global food price hikes in 2007/08 and 2010. Bringing together the principal trading countries of agricultural commodities, AMIS assesses global food supplies (focusing on wheat, maize, rice and soybeans) and provides a platform to coordinate policy action in times of market uncertainty.

AMIS is composed of G20 members plus Spain and eight additional major exporting and importing countries of agricultural commodities. Together, AMIS participants represent a large share of global production, consumption and trade volumes of the targeted crops, typically in the range of 80-90 percent.

By enhancing transparency and policy coordination in international food markets, AMIS has helped to prevent unexpected price hikes and strengthen global food security.

To carry out its functions, AMIS consists of:

• The Global Food Market Information Group, assembling technical representatives from AMIS participants, to provide reliable, accurate, timely and comparable market and policy information;
• The Rapid Response Forum, composed of senior officials from AMIS participants, to promote early discussion about critical market conditions and ways to address them; and
• The Secretariat, involving ten international organizations and entities, to produce short-term market outlooks, assessments and analyses and support all functions of the Information Group and the Forum.