Bank head says greed behind food price rises
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The food price crisis is causedlargely by greed and speculation rather than food shortages,the head of Southern Africa's development bank said on Tuesday.
Spiralling food costs -- called a "silent tsunami" by theWorld Food Programme -- have ignited fury and a rash ofprotests from Haiti to Somalia to Bangladesh. Exportingcountries have curbed shipments to ensure domestic supplies andtame inflation.
"These increases in food prices are not the consequence offood shortages, it's the consequence of human greed that isputting at risk the lives of millions of men, women andchildren," Jay Naidoo told Reuters.
"There are companies that are making super profits on thisissue."
The root causes of the more than 40 percent rise in foodprices in the last year are disputed. Experts point to strongdemand from Asian emerging markets, adverse weather in someproducer countries and increased use of biofuels.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said it would give up to$500 million (253 million pounds) in emergency loans toregional economies hardest hit by the crisis and doubleinvestment in the farm sector to $2 billion in 2009.
After four days of talks in Madrid, governments remainedsplit on whether they should use export bans and marketintervention to ensure 1 billion poor Asians living on lessthan $2 a day do not slip back into hunger and malnutrition.
"Trade measures or price controls are not efficient ways tocombat the food crisis or food price inflation. It distorts themarket and could exacerbate the situation in the internationalgrain market," ADB President Haruhiko Kuroda told Reuters.
"... the best way to address the immediate difficulty is tostrengthen social safety nets through targeted support for thepoor rather than generalized food subsidies or trade measuresor price controls."
Naidoo, of the Development Bank of Southern Africa, said onthe sidelines of a conference on malnutrition in Brussels thatgovernments and world bodies should take concerted action tocontrol surging food prices.
RICE DOWN
Thai rice prices fell around 10 percent on Tuesday afterimporters taking their cue from Manila's decision to scrap alarge tender held back on purchases.
Five Thai exporters quoted prices for 100 percent B tradewhite rice, the world's benchmark, at between $900 and $920 atonne, free on board. That is down from last week's $990-$998 atonne.
Calming nerves further, Thailand, the world's biggest riceexporter, backed off its proposal for an "OPEC-style" ricecartel. "If Thailand was going to set up a rice cartel to fixthe price, that would worsen food security," Foreign MinisterNoppadon 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 itwas considering imposing a duty on rice exports because itwants to save more of the grain for domestic consumption.
In Africa, Democratic Republic of Congo cut import taxes onstaples including "rice, maize, wheat flour, sugar, vegetableoil, powdered milk, cement, mackerel, chicken, beef ... andequipment necessary for production," according to a governmentstatement published on Tuesday.
Traders said the fall in prices could be limited ifMyanmar, which has committed rice exports to neighbouringcountries, decides to halt overseas sales and instead starts toimport the grain after being hit by a devastating cyclone.
Some of Myanmar's rice customers are expected to turn toThailand for supplies after the military-ruled country waslashed by Cyclone Nagris. The storm killed up to 22,500 peopleand ripped through Myanmar's Irrawaddy delta, its main ricegrowing area once dubbed the "rice bowl of Asia".
(Reporting by Apornrath Phoonphongphiphat in Bangkok,Sebastian Tong and Yoo Choonsik in Madrid; additional reportingby Joe Bavier in Kinshasa; editing by Robert Woodward)