Prices are rising all over the world: major food prices will fluctuate for five years

Nowadays, many people have this feeling: nothing in the vegetable market is not expensive, and 100 yuan can't buy many things.

The British "Guardian" reported on the 25th that food and vegetable prices are not yet the highest, and will reach the highest point in the next two years, and the global food crisis can be foreseen now.

The World Bank expects prices of major foods such as meat, sugar, rice and wheat to fluctuate for five years and has asked developed countries to prepare relief funds for the global food crisis.

Basic foods around the world are on the rise.

Recently, there has been a lot of news about the soaring prices of daily necessities and food. Garlic can be sold for 25 yuan per kilogram, and a Chinese cabbage in South Korea once sold for about 100 yuan.

In just a few weeks, global wheat and corn prices have risen nearly 30%, while meat prices have reached a 20-year high, according to Reuters Group's Jefferies Financial.

Last week, the US predicted that global wheat production this year would be 30 million tonnes less, or 5.5 per cent less than last year. Meanwhile, tomatoes from Egypt, garlic from China and bread from Pakistan are all near record prices.

Over the past six months, global wheat and corn prices have risen 57 per cent, rice 45 per cent, sugar 55 per cent and soybeans the highest in the past 16 months.

At present, global food prices have not yet reached the 2008 level. However, food prices in Britain have risen by another 5 per cent compared with last month, the highest level in two years.

Many scientists predict that due to the possibility of large-scale droughts and floods in the coming year, food and vegetable prices will rise to an all-time high in the next two years.

Environmental degradation of industrialization and urbanization

Why is this happening? United Nations Food Rights Commissioner Olivier de Schutter's answer is: environmental degradation, urbanization, a large number of land harvests are used as biofuels.

"worldwide, 5 million-10 million hectares of agricultural land are lost every year due to serious environmental degradation, and 19.5 million hectares of agricultural land are lost every year as a result of industrialization and urbanization." De Schutter said.

"in recent years, land has been continuously squeezed due to the large-scale promotion of industrial plantations." "according to the World Bank, more than 1 pound 3 of the land harvest is made into biofuels," de Schutter said. "

In addition, extreme weather is also behind it. Generally speaking, both Russia and Pakistan have "abundant" food stocks. But this year, the Russian boom caused forest fires and Pakistan suffered major floods, which greatly reduced grain production in the two countries. At present, the governments of Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria, Indonesia, Brazil and the Philippines have all warned that due to droughts or floods this year, there may be extreme weather next year, coupled with speculators hoarding goods and a shortage of short food. Prices may rise inevitably.

Is the global food crisis coming?

The Guardian said that food is the most important thing for the people. Rising prices may cause unrest in many countries due to a shortage of basic food. However, experts are divided on whether these "price volatility signals" will trigger a global food crisis similar to that in 2008.

Some experts believe that it will not cause a global food crisis, but it is certain that prices in the global commodity market will remain high for some time.

"the food crisis like 2008 will not come immediately, but the relevant explosive factors will always be lurking. There are too many differences between now and 2008. More food is harvested, and there are more global food stocks. " Chris Lasser, policy adviser to Oxfam, said: "prices always go up and down, and now the market is a little jittery."

Another group of experts supports the view that there will be a global food crisis in the near future. They also believe that food prices will also lead to political unrest. In particular, they pointed out that last month, 12 people were killed in riots in Maputo, the capital of Mozambique, as a result of a 30% rise in bread prices.

"in recent weeks, we have found some of the same signs that led to the global food crisis in 2008," said Abdul Reza Abasian, a senior economist at the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. Our prices may not be as high as they were in 2008, but this time they will last longer. "

Last week, the World Bank said world food prices would fluctuate for five years. At the request of developing countries, the World Bank hopes that the governments of developed countries will provide 1 billion US dollars in "food crisis funds".