Since the 1950s, there have been several food crises with severe humanitarian, economic, political and market-related consequences. In the last decade, food crises occurred during 2007-2008 and again in 2010-2011. In ...Since the 1950s, there have been several food crises with severe humanitarian, economic, political and market-related consequences. In the last decade, food crises occurred during 2007-2008 and again in 2010-2011. In the paper, the main explanations for the food crises are discussed with a focus on the 2007-2008 food crisis, and the main causes are divided into temporary/random and structural/long term and are listed. Although there are a large number of factors, the size of reserves, speculation and bioenergy seem to be significant causes of the rapidly increasing food prices which were a major cause of the food crisis. The consequences of the food crisis in 2007-2008 in particular are discussed, and some major lessons learnt are listed. Also, the present market situation is assessed, the conclusion of which is that there does not seem to be an immediate risk of another food crisis occurring in the short term. However, international cereal reserves are still vulnerable and lower compared to the level in the 1990s.展开更多
文摘Since the 1950s, there have been several food crises with severe humanitarian, economic, political and market-related consequences. In the last decade, food crises occurred during 2007-2008 and again in 2010-2011. In the paper, the main explanations for the food crises are discussed with a focus on the 2007-2008 food crisis, and the main causes are divided into temporary/random and structural/long term and are listed. Although there are a large number of factors, the size of reserves, speculation and bioenergy seem to be significant causes of the rapidly increasing food prices which were a major cause of the food crisis. The consequences of the food crisis in 2007-2008 in particular are discussed, and some major lessons learnt are listed. Also, the present market situation is assessed, the conclusion of which is that there does not seem to be an immediate risk of another food crisis occurring in the short term. However, international cereal reserves are still vulnerable and lower compared to the level in the 1990s.
