Food Price Rise, Speculation in Commodities Market, African Land Grabs, Biofuels.. What a cocktail?!

It's amazing, how incredibly linked, different parts of the Earth's Ecosystems are!.. 
Equally amazing, how incredibly linked, different parts of the world's Economic systems are as well!
Interestingly, there are new studies going on, to try and evaluate the link between these two- by the impressive TEEB study..About The Economics of Ecosystems & Biodiversity.. ( http://greenwich-times.blogspot.com/2011/04/talklse-economics-of-ecosystems-and.html)


I've been fascinated by the Ecosystems for long.. and have tried to get my head 'round the Economic systems.. and its impact on the former as well as their interactions..[ From that respect, the TEEB does a wonderful job of coming out with meaningful,practical data that can be used by governments, policy makers, local authorities etc. ]
The following is a result of collating related articles I had read in recent times; mostly from Economics point of view..


To start with, here is a brief 2-min audio: UN official explains, how gambling in food commodities market by finance companies is affecting prices for consumers..

(http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/audio/2011/jun/01/food-speculation-olivier-de-schutter-audio
Nearly 1 billion people around the world are going hungry each day and dozens of countries are facing food shortages in the near future. What role does food speculation play in this? Olivier de Schutter, the UN's special rapporteur on the right to food, explains )
 
Here is some interesting statistics from a related report (from http://bit.ly/forests-farming-food-land ),

• UN's food price index has risen 37% since Mar/2010- Basic cereal prices are up 60%, Wheat is up 63%, &maize 83%.

• ~1million people slide into extreme poverty for each 1% rise in global food prices, according to World Bank's analysts..

Apparently this gambling in food market is a phenomenon started in recent years, for which the US brought in some regulations,after subprime crisis/market crash..But happens blatantly in other markets: http://bit.ly/speculators-food-price-rise , http://bit.ly/cocoa-market-abuse

After the Real Estate/Sub-prime tornado that left the US 'Financial Landscape' in tatters,
ruthless investment companies(the perpetrators of much of it?),r spreading their vicious influence onto new fields-
Shifting focus from American housing market to Global Food market- more basic&wider needs!
Apparently,the guile of the wily spiders,thru their wider nets,has started affecting huge populations more directly..

(See: Hedge Funds 'Grabbing Land' in Africa:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13688683  )

After their increased Speculation/Manipulation/Gambling on Commodities market, reportedly causing food price inflation, in recent years..,
now onto African Land Grabbing!
Time will tell, whether these will ultimately cause more devastation worldwide than the sub-prime crashes..- and whether it will be delivered in doses sporadically across the globe and hitting like slowly affecting poison than one huge blow!

There has been a spate of reports on manipulating food prices recently- from last year:
O'course, Hedge funds may not be the sole reason for price rise, but they are making it much worse..(UN's FAO confirming this)

( http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/jul/19/speculators-commodities-food-price-rises
independent investigations revealed, in 2010 Goldman Sachs made a profit of $1bn through gambling on the price of everyday foods..
While there were food riots due to price rise, in Mozambique last year [..and in Mexico and Haiti in 2008, said another report]

Such price inflation affects not only the starving population in poorer countries, but also those in developed nations..
--> cocoa prices jumped to a 33-year high, as it emerged that a London hedge fund had snapped up a large part of the world's stock of cocoa beans.
--> A 150% rise in cocoa prices over 18 months forced many chocolate-makers to raise their prices and often to use less cocoa.
)

( Some insights into how investors can make the price change faster than that caused by the demand-supply market dynamics of traditional consumers and producers :

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/oct/25/impending-global-food-crisis

World Development Movement -WDM in London warned that food speculation by hedge funds, pension funds and investment banks was likely to prompt further inflation.

Mounting anger has greeted food price inflation of 21% in Egypt in the last year, along with 17% rises in India and similar amounts in many other countries. Prices in the UK have risen 22% in three years.

Longtime hedge fund manager Mike Masters, who has worked with WDM, said: "Because there is already much more capital available in the world than hard commodities, speculators can increase the price of consumable commodities, like foodstuffs or energy, much higher than traditional consumers and producers can react.
)

..and related article on shortage of land for farming..
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/may/18/forests-farming-food-land

Couple of years back,had seen documentaries/read of the Arabs doing a lot of Land Grabs of African farmlands, but that was more out of concern about their food security though!.

..and Finally:

Rush to Use Crops as Fuel Raises Food Prices and Hunger Fears..

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/07/science/earth/07cassava.html?_r=1