News

Why no food riots?

With the UN Food & Agriculture Food Price Index hitting a record high, why aren’t we seeing food riots like we did in 2008? The difference seems to be which items are expensive. Riots broke out in over 30 countries in 2008 when the prices of rice and wheat shot up; both are diet staples especially in food-insecure countries. This time, the increases are driven mainly by corn, vegetable oil, meat and sugar. Abdolreza Abbassian with the FAO tells the Financial Times the prices of wheat and rice are rising buy have not reached 2007-2008 levels. He also notes world wheat and rice stocks are much more plentiful today.

Another factor, while crops have suffered in central Asia, harvests have been good in other Asian countries as well as in Africa. Maximo Torero of the International Food Policy Research Institute says three years ago poor crops forced those countries to turn to international markets to meet their needs. That increase in demand pushed prices up, prompting export bans and triggering riots.

It is still a very tenuous situation today and weather, politics, investors or perception can quickly change things. Torero tells the Kaiser Family Foundation “Clearly what is needed is to increase production through appropriate investment in agriculture, to increase the information on stocks around the world, strengthen the regulation of the futures markets and to have safety net mechanisms to protect the poorest consumers.”

There are reports of riots in Algeria in reaction to a combination of rising food prices,  high unemployment and housing shortages.

Add Comment

Your email address will not be published.


 

Stay Up to Date

Subscribe for our newsletter today and receive relevant news straight to your inbox!