Inflation Adjusted World Prices Rise 50%
in 10 Years
World Food Prices are up
by 50% over the level 10 years ago – These figures are inflation adjusted
Crude Prices, Bio Fuels Substitutes and Demand
behind Price Rise
Weather shocks behind falling food production - Consumption
and trade fall but prices rise
Markets Fail during periods of Excessive Price
Volatility – Supply side intervention must to protect the poor
There are 1 bn or 100 crore of under nourished on this planet. High price is one
factor behind hunger and malnutrition
The number of emergencies have risen, political
instability and failed states behind rise
Food Deficit in Sub Saharan Africa Rises 60 percent
Weather shocks behind falling food production
Imports of deficit countries have grown, food
exporters prosper
Eastern Europe and Central Asia Emerge as Agro
Powers
Asia Leads as Importer, Exporter and Producer
World Food Prices are up by 50% over the level 10
years ago – These figures are inflation adjusted
Started rising in the early 2000s after the long
term decline since 1961. The annual FAO Food Price Index (FPI) spiked sharply
in 2007 and 2008 after moderating in 2009, they increased again in 2010, and
real prices are now 50 percent higher than their levels ten years previously.
Era of declining real food prices appears to have
ended or at least halted, and forecasts suggest that prices would remain above
their long-term trend throughout the next decade given existing policies,
productivity and demographic trends and macroeconomic assumptions.
Figure 1: The
FAO Annual Food price Index (FPI) in real terms, 1961-2010
Prices began rising again in mid-2009 and surged
during the second half of 2010. The prices remains above the peak reached in
June 2008.
Figure 2: The FAO monthly Food Price Index, January
2007–May 2011
Source: FAO,
By January, 2011 prices of cereals,
oils, dairy and meats were almost as high as they were during the food price
crisis of 2007-08 and the price of sugar was much higher. The price index for
meat has continued to rise, but other commodity price indices have remained
steady or decreased slightly in recent months, with the exception of sugar
which has fallen significantly.
The OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook 2010 – 2019 (OECD-FAO,
2010), real commodity prices are expected to be higher on average over the next
decade than they were in the period from 2000 to 2009.
Crude Prices, Bio Fuels
Substitutes and Demand behind Price Rise
Factors underlying the projected higher
agricultural commodity prices include-
·
higher
energy costs,
·
increased
demand by emerging developing countries
·
growing production of biofuels from agricultural feed
stocks.
The essence of the price system is that when a commodity
becomes scarce its price rises, which induces a fall in consumption and more
investment in the production of that commodity.
Weather shocks behind
falling food production
Consumption and trade fall
but prices rise
Growth in the global agricultural production index
(measured in constant prices) slowed to about 1.5 percent in 2009 and to a mere
0.2 percent in 2010; this followed significant increases of about 2.7 and 4.5
percent respectively in 2007 and 2008. Weather shocks such as the drought in
the Russian Federation during the summer of 2010, which caused the country’s
wheat production and exports to fall dramatically, and by reduced yields in the
United States of America.
Growth in global food consumption, which had been
increasing at a rate of over 2 percent per year, slowed in 2007 and has been
reduced to a very low level of about 1.2 percent in 2010; this indicates
negligible growth in per capita global food consumption in 2010. Growth in
trade had been in the 4-6 percent range annually before 2008, but it has since
then fallen to the 2–3 percent range.
Markets Fail during periods
of Excessive Price Volatility – Supply side intervention must to protect the
poor
Efficiency of the price system begins to break down
under excessive price volatility, as uncertainty creates higher investment
risks.
Price volatility may be increasing in frequency,
severity and amplitude.
There
are 1 bn or 100 crore of
under nourished on this planet. High price is one factor behind hunger and
malnutrition
FAO estimated that the number of undernourished were
925 million in 2010, compared to the peak level of 1.023 billion in 2009, as a
result of improved prospects for the global economy and lower food commodity
prices.
Although the majority of the world’s undernourished
people (578 million) live in Asia and the Pacific, the highest prevalence of
undernourishment is found in sub-Saharan Africa. In 2005–07 (the latest period
with complete information by country), the prevalence of undernourishment was
30 percent for sub-Saharan Africa, compared with 16 percent for Asia and the
Pacific.
The number of emergencies
have risen, political instability and failed states behind rise
The number of emergencies in countries requiring
assistance for food has increased since the mid-1980s. The frequency of
human-induced emergencies seems to have increased since the mid-1980s,
particularly in Africa, with conflict accounting for most of them.
Figure 7: Number of emergencies in countries
requiring assistance for food, by type 1982–2010
Source: FAO, 2011. For more detailed information
please see FAO, 2011. Crop Prospects and Food Situation,
March, Rome.
Food
Deficit in Sub Saharan Africa Rises 60 percent
In sub-Saharan Africa agricultural production has
been erratic, but has increased since 2006 while food imports increased through
2007, and exports were stagnant although volatile over the period; this might
lead to the expectation that per capita consumption has increased as well.
However, that was not the case. Per capita food consumption in the region only
increased slightly from 2000 to 2007 and it decreased during the food and
financial crises. This poor performance is due to several reasons, including
the rate of population growth exceeding that of the rate of increase in food
availability in the region. It is likewise troubling to note that during the
last decade, net food imports by sub-Saharan Africa, measured in constant
prices, increased more than 60 percent, implying a further widening of the food
trade deficit faced by this region and increased budgetary pressure for the
countries.
Imports increased over the decade, but declined in
2010 resulting in large part from high world food commodity prices. Increases
in the region’s imports were mainly a result of increases in the purchases of
wheat, rice, coarse grains (for animal feed), meat (especially poultry) and
dairy products.
Imports of deficit countries
have grown, food exporters prosper
Imports have registered significant growth over the
period. Export performances by countries in Latin America and the Caribbean,
for which food exports nearly doubled over the decade, have made this region an
increasingly important food supplier to global markets.
Over the period 2000 to 2010 per capita consumption
of basic foods remained stagnant-to falling in North America. Production
increased moderately over the decade, led mainly by growth in the United States
where a low dollar has boosted its competitiveness. Production registered a
decline in 2010 due to weather related problems. Export volumes from North
America grew by about 32 percent over the decade.
Eastern Europe and Central
Asia Emerge as Agro Powers
Per capita food consumption in Eastern Europe and
Central Asia increased slightly over the last decade (Figure 14). By contrast,
food production has grown very rapidly in this region, which recorded bumper
crops in 2008 and 2009. The drought of 2010, however, implied substantially reduced
levels of crop production in the region. Livestock and dairy production have
recently demonstrated a return to growth after more than a decade of
stagnation.
Asia Leads as Importer,
Exporter and Producer
Food consumption per person has increased
continuously in Asia in the last decade (Figure 15), as a result of strong
economic growth and sustained regional production which grew on average about 2
to 4 percent per year through most of the decade before slowing in 2009 and
2010. Imports rose more rapidly in Asia
than in any other region, increasing in volume terms by almost 75 percent
between 2000 and 2010, led by increased imports of oilseeds, coarse grains,
meat and dairy products. Exports from the region have likewise increased
rapidly, mainly due to growth in trade of products such as palm oil, rice and
meat.