Vysoke ceny potravin sposobuju revolucne nalady
Ceny potravinovych komodit rastu a prudke ochladenie cien uz je asi v nedohlaldne. ako sa bude vyvijat nalada globalnej populacie v tejto zalezitosti asi nie je tazko predvidat..
From rice in Ecuador, quark in Germany to croissants in France: food prices are constantly souring up in the whole world. The poorest strata of population suffer most of all. The prosperity of the golden billion is threatened by revolts of the hungry.
Extremities of nature, topmost prices of oil, as well as rapid-growing demand in China and India are the major reasons for record high leaps in food prices. The poverty-stricken suffer not only in developing, but in developed countries as well.
Prices are expected to stabilize in the long term, but within the next decade prices will tend to increase, according to preliminary FAO projections. Topmost prices of oil will push up prices of everything from fertilizers to transport to food processing. Besides, in fast-growing economies like China and India the demand for meat and dairy is sky-rocketing.
In most countries staples are getting more expensive. For example, in Egypt prices of bread have risen 35 percent and prices of cooking oil have become four times more expensive.
As a result of strong protests, the government should end food subsidies and replace them with cash payouts to the needy. “The revolution of the hungry is in the offing,” said Mohammed el-Askalani of Citizens Against the High Cost of Living protest group.
In China growing prices are both a curse and a blessing. Per capita meat consumption has increased 150 percent since 1980. The price of pork has jumped 58 percent in the past year; however there are crowds of customers in the Zhou Jian every morning.
Nervous markets
While in past decades subsidies enabled exporting countries to hold large corn supplies, liberalization of world trade lowered these reserves considerably. Moreover, agricultural production became more responsive to market development. Prices can be also influenced by bad weather and crop failure. For instance, a drought in Australia and flooding in Argentina sent the price of butter in France soaring 37 percent from 2006 to 2007. Gourmets can feel that when they order snail dishes prepared in butter. Prices of croissants and well-known Pain au Chocolat also went up.
“We need a response on a large scale, either the regional or international level,” argued Brian Halweil of the environmental research organization Worldwatch Institute. Further still, all civilized countries are involved in world food trade. “This is a global crisis,” Halweil concluded.
Zdroj: pravda.ru
11.04.2008
