Head of UN Environmental Program says linking biofuels to higher commodity prices is “only speculation at this stage”

Achim Steiner, executive director of the U.N. Environment Program, said that linking biofuel crop demand and higher commodity prices was only speculation at this stage. He said that further study would be required to firmly establish such a linkage, noting that it is not likely that biofuel demand is responsible for the increase in Italian pasta or Mexican tortilla prices.

More than 50 articles have been published this month criticizing biofuel production for causing the recent increase in global corn and wheat prices, including a column in the Toronto Globe & Mail referring to the “ethanol con job”.

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