Food market volatility has yet to be understood: No definite proof that it is due to speculators
Monday, April 22, 2013 - 08:30
in Mathematics & Economics
Riots, political instability and a spike in malnourishment cases blighted the years 2007 and 2008, particularly in developing countries. The cause was a sudden surge in global food prices, with rice eventually rising several hundred per cent as importing countries simply could not get enough of this basic foodstuff. Global food expert Christopher Gilbert now warns that we can never predict such spikes in advance. Yet, Europe needs to improve its policies in this area. Gilbert, a statistician at the University of Trento in Italy, believes that, five years on, there is very little real evidence that traders and speculators on food markets caused the volatility in agricultural commodities.