[DEBATE] : Greed behind food price rises: development bank head

[Riaz K Tayob]

Greed behind food price rises: development bank head

Ingrid Melander Reuters US Online Report Top News

May 06, 2008 13:04 EST

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The food price crisis is caused largely by greed 
and speculation rather than food shortages, the head of Southern 
Africa's development bank said on Tuesday.

Spiraling food costs -- called a "silent tsunami" by the World Food 
Program -- have ignited fury and a rash of protests from Haiti to 
Somalia to Bangladesh. Exporting countries have curbed shipments to 
ensure domestic supplies and tame inflation.

"These increases in food prices are not the consequence of food 
shortages, it's the consequence of human greed that is putting at risk 
the lives of millions of men, women and children," Jay Naidoo told Reuters.

"There are companies that are making super profits on this issue."

The root causes of the more than 40 percent rise in food prices in the 
last year are disputed. Experts point to strong demand from Asian 
emerging markets, adverse weather in some producer countries and 
increased use of biofuels.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said it would give up to $500 million 
in emergency loans to regional economies hardest hit by the crisis and 
double investment in the farm sector to $2 billion in 2009.

After four days of talks in Madrid, governments remained split on 
whether they should use export bans and market intervention to ensure 1 
billion poor Asians living on less than $2 a day do not slip back into 
hunger and malnutrition.

"Trade measures or price controls are not efficient ways to combat the 
food crisis or food price inflation. It distorts the market and could 
exacerbate the situation in the international grain market," ADB 
President Haruhiko Kuroda told Reuters.

"... the best way to address the immediate difficulty is to strengthen 
social safety nets through targeted support for the poor rather than 
generalized food subsidies or trade measures or price controls."

Naidoo, of the Development Bank of Southern Africa, said on the 
sidelines of a conference on malnutrition in Brussels that governments 
and world bodies should take concerted action to control surging food 
prices.

RICE DOWN

Thai rice prices fell around 10 percent on Tuesday after importers 
taking their cue from Manila's decision to scrap a large tender held 
back on purchases.

Five Thai exporters quoted prices for 100 percent B trade white rice, 
the world's benchmark, at between $900 and $920 a tonne, free on board. 
That is down from last week's $990-$998 a tonne.

Calming nerves further, Thailand, the world's biggest rice exporter, 
backed off its proposal for an "OPEC-style" rice cartel. "If Thailand 
was going to set up a rice cartel to fix the price, that would worsen 
food security," Foreign Minister Noppadon Pattama told reporters.

On Monday, the Philippines, the world's top rice importer, scrapped its 
largest rice tender of the year.

Vietnam, the world's second-largest rice exporter, said it was 
considering imposing a duty on rice exports because it wants to save 
more of the grain for domestic consumption.

In Africa, Democratic Republic of Congo cut import taxes on staples 
including "rice, maize, wheat flour, sugar, vegetable oil, powdered 
milk, cement, mackerel, chicken, beef ... and equipment necessary for 
production," according to a government statement published on Tuesday.

Traders said the fall in prices could be limited if Myanmar, which has 
committed rice exports to neighboring countries, decides to halt 
overseas sales and instead starts to import the grain after being hit by 
a devastating cyclone.

Some of Myanmar's rice customers are expected to turn to Thailand for 
supplies after the military-ruled country was lashed by Cyclone Nagris. 
The storm killed up to 22,500 people and ripped through Myanmar's 
Irrawaddy delta, its main rice growing area once dubbed the "rice bowl 
of Asia."

(Reporting by Apornrath Phoonphongphiphat in Bangkok, Sebastian Tong and 
Yoo Choonsik in Madrid; additional reporting by Joe Bavier in Kinshasa; 
editing by Robert Woodward)

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