Le débat "alimentation vs. biocarburants"

Référence

World Bank (2008)

Titre

A note on rising food prices

Résumé

The rapid rise in food prices has been a burden on the poor in developing countries, who spend roughly half of their household incomes on food. This paper examines the factors behind the rapid increase in internationally traded food prices since 2002 and estimates the contribution of various factors such as the increased production of biofuels from food grains and oilseeds, the weak dollar, and the increase in food production costs due to higher energy prices. It concludes that the most important factor was the large increase in biofuels production in the U.S. and the EU. Without these increases, global wheat and maize stocks would not have declined appreciably, oilseed prices would not have tripled, and price increases due to other factors, such as droughts, would have been more moderate. Recent export bans and speculative activities would probably not have occurred because they were largely responses to rising prices. While it is difficult to compare the results of this study with those of other studies due to differences in methodologies, time periods and prices considered, many other studies have also recognized biofuels production as a major driver of food prices. The contribution of biofuels to the rise in food prices raises an important policy issue, since much of the increase was due to EU and U.S. government policies that provided incentives to biofuels production, and biofuels policies which subsidize production need to be reconsidered in light of their impact on food prices.

Langue

E

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[127 kB]

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Food and Agriculture Organization (2008)

Titre

The right to food and the impact of liquid biofuels

Résumé

This UN Food and Agriculture Organization study examines the impact of biofuel production on the human rights to adequate food and to be free from hunger. It was authored by Asbjørn Eide, senior fellow of the Norwegian Center for Human Rights at the University of Oslo, and seeks to contribute to the present discussion on soaring food prices, climate change and biofuels. It explores the extent to which biofuel production has undermined, or is likely in the future to undermine, access to food for vulnerable people, and whether there are any overriding ethical concerns that can justify biofuel production, even if it harms access to food. It also examines if there are ways in which liquid biofuel production can be made compatible with full respect for the right to adequate food for all.

Langue

E

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[879 kB]

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Food and Agriculture Organization (2008)

Titre

The state of food and agriculture 2008

Résumé

Two years ago, there were high expectations surrounding liquid biofuels as a resource that could potentially mitigate global climate change, contribute to energy security and support agricultural producers around the world. Since then, there has been a marked change in perceptions of biofuels. Recent analysis has raised serious questions regarding the full environmental impacts of producing biofuels from an already stressed agricultural resource base. The costs of policies aimed at promoting liquid biofuels are beginning to attract scrutiny. Food prices have risen rapidly, giving rise to major concerns over the food security of the world’s most vulnerable people. However, biofuels are only one of many factors that have driven the recent rise in commodity prices. Also, biofuels have other implications beyond their effect on commodity prices. This report surveys the current state of the debate on biofuels and explores these implications. It examines the policies being implemented in support of biofuels and the policies that would be needed to address their implications for the environment, food security and the poor.

Langue

E

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[1'328 kB]

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OECD, FAO (2008)

Titre

Agricultural Outlook 2008-2017

Résumé

This is the fourteenth edition of the Agricultural Outlook and the fourth time it has been prepared jointly by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). This edition covers the outlook for commodity markets during the 2008 to 2017 period, and brings together the commodity, policy and country expertise of both Organisations. The report analyses world market trends for the main agricultural products, as well as biofuels. It provides an assessment of agricultural market prospects for production, consumption, trade, stocks and prices of the included commodities.

Langue

E

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[1'332 kB]

Référence

UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (2008)

Titre

The impact of biofuels on commodity prices

Résumé

Global biofuel production has seen a three fold increase over the last 20 years. Price spikes are common in agricultural markets due to a combination of relatively inelastic demand and volatile supply. Historical data (using 1987 as the base year) shows that world wheat prices were at similar level to present levels in 1995 and 1996, less than the 2007 peak in nominal terms but 15% higher in real terms. Sugar prices peaked in 2003 and in early 2008 fell below production costs of all major producers (including Brazil). Other things being equal, biofuel production should put upward pressure on cereal, oilseeds and sugar prices. However, a closer look at recent price developments suggests that there are a number of factors affecting current commodity prices some of which are cyclical and some of which are structural in nature.

Langue

E

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[427 kB]

Référence

Farm Foundation (2008)

Titre

What's driving food prices?

Résumé

The temperature of the rhetoric in the food-versus-fuel debate has been rising right along with the prices of corn and oil. Farm Foundation is not about heat or fueling fires. Our mission is to be a catalyst for sound public policy by providing objective information to foster deeper understanding of the complex issues before the food system today. We commissioned this paper to provide a comprehensive, objective assessment of the forces driving food prices. In recent months, much has been written in the academic and popular press about commodity prices, biofuels and food prices—often with varying perspectives and conclusions. Farm Foundation asked Wallace Tyner, Philip Abbot and Christopher Hurt, all of Purdue University, to review the literature and provide a comprehensive assessment of the forces driving food prices today. The three economists reviewed more than two dozen reports and studies, summarizing them in light of their own examination of the facts.

Langue

E

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[2'628 kB]

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Biofuel Matters (2008)

Titre

The impact of EU biofuel policy on food economics and food security to 2020

Résumé

The purpose of the study is to discuss potential impacts on food security and prices up to 2020 by utilising EU cereal crops for bioethanol production. It considers the impact of the EU biofuel policies on the economics of food production and food security within Europe; the impact on poverty, which is cited as the main cause of hunger, in the developing world; and how new biofuel technologies may impact on these issues.

Langue

E

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[2'692 kB]

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EuropaBIO (2008)

Titre

Biofuels factsheet: Biofuels & food

Résumé

Recent price increases in corn and wheat have cascaded in the food chain resulting in a price increase in foods (pasta, bread, milk, meat), which was swiftly attributed to increased biofuels production. While it is true that the price of agricultural raw materials has risen, the alleged impact of biofuels on food price is disproportionate and a number of factors, including bad harvests in Australia and Ukraine in 2007 and an increased demand for meat in developing countries are responsible. The present report addresses the following key issues: Are biofuels causing food prices to rise? Does the higher price of raw materials increase food prices in developed countries? How do the higher prices of raw materials affect food price and availability in developing countries? How does the increased biofuels production following on from the EU and US biofuel targets impact agricultural raw materials for industry? Is biofuel production bad for the livestock industry? How can we meet today’s demands of fuel and food?

Langue

E

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[742 kB]

Référence

eBIO (2008)

Titre

The truth about food anf fuel

Résumé

Biofuels have been blamed for driving up food prices. However, EU produced bioethanol has many advantages with respect to food supply which have been so far overlooked in the public debate. This brochure on food and fuel distinguishes fact from fiction, sheds light on the benefits of EU bioethanol production and points out the positive impact of next generation of biofuels. The 2007-2008 global agricultural commodity price rises are the result of growing world demand combined with a slow down in productivity growth. This led to the change from a surplus to a shortage era and set the stage for commodity price increases. Lower than expected harvests due to adverse weather conditions and crop diseases exacerbated the price impacts. The policy actions of some countries to isolate their domestic markets through export restraints made the situation even worse. Speculation aggravated the situation even further. The demand for biofuels production only has a marginal impact.

Langue

E

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[1'237 kB]

Référence

European Commission, DG Agriculture (2008)

Titre

High prices on agricultural commodity markets: Situation and prospects

Résumé

The paper responds to concerns about causes and prospects of high agricultural commodity prices which started increasing in 2006/2007 and soared in early spring 2008, and thus focuses on agricultural commodities utilised mostly as food. It takes stock of and elaborates existing analysis within the DG AGRI and elsewhere of causes of high prices on agricultural commodity markets, and prospects for their developments. Price volatility has always been present and hikes in the prices occurred before the current one. Reasons for current price pressures are unambiguous and have been reiterated on multiple occasions: a combination of steadily increasing demand and lagging supply or production shortfall, exacerbated by short-term economic and policy factors. These factors are both of structural and cyclical nature. However, the contribution and combination of these factors varies between sectors. For example, high wheat prices are for the large part attributable to supply constrained by weather conditions while demand elements play a more important role in the oilseeds sector and maize. Although price fluctuation is characteristic for products exhibiting seasonality, for some commodities recent hikes exceeded levels explained by accepted market fundamentals. The Commission communication on high prices sets out key areas for action in three categories – efforts to mitigate the short to medium term impact of price rises, initiatives to increase supply in the longer term, and addressing the crisis at international level.

Langue

E

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[411 kB]

Référence

European Commission (2008)

Titre

Tackling the challenge of rising food prices: Directions for EU action

Résumé

For thirty years, food prices both in Europe and globally have fallen in real terms. This trend has been reversed over the past months by sudden and steep upward movements in world agricultural commodity prices. The price surge affected several commodities at the same time: cereals, meat, and dairy products all recorded two digit or even three digit increases in less than a year. The size and abruptness of the price surge have generated macro-economic imbalances across the world. Developing countries and the most vulnerable populations have been hit disproportionately. Millions of people living on the edge of poverty face hunger and malnutrition. Inside the Union, food price inflation reached 7% in March 2008. For European consumers, the effects of soaring food prices have been worsened by simultaneous increases in energy prices. Households purchasing power has gone down and it is the 16% of Europeans living below the poverty threshold who are most exposed.

Langue

E

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[68 kB]

Référence

SWISSAID (2008)

Titre

Agrofuels are a threat to food sovereignty

Résumé

The world is currently experiencing a new era of hunger. World Bank president Robert Zoelick warned on 2 April 2008 that in countries where people spend between 50 and 75% of their budget on food there is little margin for survival1. In Indonesia an increase on the price of rice by only 10% will push another 2 million people into poverty. Part of the responsibility also goes to the politically guided boom in the demand for biofuels, which competes with food production. Given the worldwide experiences so far and the reports of our partner organizations form Columbia, India, and Tanzania SWISSAID is against the industrial production of agrofuels for the international markets. It is perfectly clear to SWISSAID: biofuels fuel hunger. SWISSAID proposes to support an ecological form of agriculture for local markets with short routes of transportation and organic methods of production, which consume few fossil resources. SWISSAID demands a clear reversal of trends in energy policy in favor of greatly lower levels of energy consumption and the support of sustainable, renewable energies.

Langue

E

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[473 kB]

Référence

Oxfam International (2008)

Titre

Another inconvenient truth

Résumé

Biofuels currently provide a solution neither to the oil nor to the climate crisis, and are now contributing to a third: the food crisis. In recent years, food prices have nearly doubled, placing poor people, who often spend over half of their income on food, in an untenable situation. The World Bank estimates that the crisis has already pushed over 100 million people into poverty. Oxfam estimates that the crisis has endangered the livelihoods of at least 290 million of the world’s rural and urban poor. The West’s biofuels boom is contributing to deeper global poverty and accelerated climate change, while allowing governments to avoid difficult but urgent decisions about how to reduce spiralling demand for energy in transport. This paper explains how a sustainable development opportunity has instead turned into an unsustainable nightmare, and examines the conditions under which some of the original promise, particularly for poor people, might still be realised.

Langue

E

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[419 kB]

Référence

ActionAid International (2008)

Titre

Food, farmers and fuel: Balancing global grain and energy policies with sustainable land use

Résumé

The public debate on agrofuels changed dramatically over the past year. What started out as an intriguing proposal on an apparently innovative alternative fuel source quickly turned into an important and contentious topic of international discussion. The United States, the European Union and many developing countries set ambitious targets for agrofuel consumption. But these goals were not matched by appropriate caution about the potential impacts of this new demand for agricultural goods on food prices, the environment, or local economies. The sharp rise in food prices around the world brought these issues into the public focus. While estimates of the precise impact of agrofuel production on food prices vary, it is clear that the greater demand for grains resulting from that production — along with rising petroleum costs, increased droughts and flooding resulting from climate change, and the lack of adequate public support for agricultural production — all had major impacts on food prices. ActionAid believes that it is time to stop the headlong rush to agrofuel production, to assess the impacts to date, and to listen to what farmers and consumers are saying about their needs for food and fuel production.

Langue

E

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[1'328 kB]

Référence

U.S. Department of Agriculture (2008)

Titre

Factors contributing to the recent increase in food commodity prices

Résumé

World market prices for major food commodities such as grains and vegetable oils have risen sharply to historic highs of more than 60 percent above levels just 2 years ago. Many factors have contributed to the runup in food commodity prices. Some factors reflect trends of slower growth in production and more rapid growth in demand, which have contributed to a tightening of world balances of grains and oilseeds over the last decade. Recent factors that have further tightened world markets include increased global demand for biofuels feedstocks and adverse weather conditions in 2006 and 2007 in some major grain and oilseed producing areas. Other factors that have added to global food commodity price inflation include the declining value of the U.S. dollar, rising energy prices, increasing agricultural costs of production, growing foreign exchange holdings by major food importing countries, and policies adopted recently by some exporting and importing countries to mitigate their own food price inflation.

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E

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[804 kB]

Référence

Renewable Fuels Agency (2008)

Titre

The Gallagher Review of the indirect effects of biofuels production

Résumé

On 21 February 2008 Secretary of State for Transport Ruth Kelly invited the Renewable Fuels Agency to undertake a Review of the Indirect Effects of Biofuels. This was done in the light of new evidence suggesting that an increasing demand for biofuels might indirectly cause carbon emissions because of land use change, and concerns that demand for biofuels may be driving food insecurity by causing food commodity price increases. The Government has made clear that it would like the RFA to report back as soon as possible in order to be able to have the best opportunity of influencing EU negotiations on future biofuel targets.

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E

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[1'020 kB]

Référence

LEI Wageningen UR (2008)

Titre

Why are current world food prices so high?

Résumé

A complex of factors underlies the current, high food prices. The effects of speculation around food crops should not be overestimated nor should the influence of biofuels on world food prices. In time, food prices will again decline. These are some of the recent and most important conclusions in an economic analysis of the development in world food prices from experts at Wageningen University and Research Centre in the Netherlands. LEI Wageningen UR asked a number of experts to contribute to the national and international discussion by offering analysis from different perspectives. This document is a first memorandum on the analysis of the recent price increases.

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E

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[430 kB]

Référence

European Commission, Joint Research Centre (2008)

Titre

Biofuels in the European Union: Facts and uncertainties

Résumé

Biofuels is currently the subject of a wide ranging societal and political debate. Questions of costs, security of energy supply, green house gas emissions, sustainability of production systems, impact on food production and on biodiversity are some of the many issues which have been associated with a renewed interest in that source of energy. Together with other stakeholders, the Joint Research Centre has been studying aspects relevant to biofuels in different contexts for a number of years. In order to provide an up-to-date analysis of policy issues and thereby contribute to the current debate, it has pulled together these results and other available studies. This has resulted in the present report which is presented as a contribution to an ongoing debate. It has not been adopted by the Commission and does not represent official policy of the Commission. The report presents facts, findings and models regarding biofuels in a broad context. It points out the associated uncertainties. The document identifies scenarios which may evolve in either a predictable or non predictable way in the future but which in turn may considerably influence the debate. Finally, this report has identified open issues.

Langue

E

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[802 kB]