Browse > Home / Top Story / UK’s Guardian newspaper says suppressed World Bank report blames 75 percent food price increase on biofuels

UK’s Guardian newspaper says suppressed World Bank report blames 75 percent food price increase on biofuels

July 7, 2008

GuardianThe Guardian newspaper in the UK said that it had obtained a copy of an explosive report, which found that biofuels were responsible for a 75 percent increase in food prices, a startling variance from USDA estimates of a 2-3 percent increase and reports funded by food companies showing increases of up to 35 percent. The Guardian said that “Senior development sources believe the report, completed in April, has not been published to avoid embarrassing President George Bush.” The online journal Grist used the report’s appearance for a thoughtful review of recent studies on the impact of biofuels on food prices.

Food vs fuel studies and controversy background

The Food Before Food coalition called on Governor Jon Corzine to request a waiver from the ethanol mandate and the Renewable Fuel Standard.

Meanwhile, CNN.com reported on studies sponsored by Kraft Foods and a related coalition of food producers, Balanced Food and Fuel. Both studies projected that a 50 percent reduction in the Renewable Fuel Standard would drop corn prices by $2 per bushel. However a chart on the balancedfoodandfuel.org website projects the corn price at only $3.40 per bushel in 2010, dropping to $3.15 per bushel in 2016.

Meanwile, USDA under secretary Thomas Dorr pledged at the Corn Utilization and Technology Conference to give farmers more support in the food vs fuel debate. Dorr said the Department would highlight that ethanol has caused only 0.25% of the 4.5% increase in food prices and was holding down gas prices.

The EPA comments period in the Renewable Fuel Standard waiver consideration process ended this week. Just before the end of the comments period, the Balanced Food and Fuel coalition (American Meat Institute, National Chicken Council, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, National Meat Association, National Milk Producers Federation, National Pork Producers Council, National Turkey Federation and United Egg Producers) submitted a paper commissioned from FarmEcon, and Kraft Foods submitted a paper it commissioned from Keith Collins (former chief economist of the USDA), supporting the call for the waiver by highlighting a high impact on corn prices and negligible impact on fuel prices from corn ethanol. The foodbeforefuel.org website funded by the Grocery Manufacturers Association has a link to both studies and is promoting them via press releases.


  • World Bank “secret report” blaming biofuels identified as “working paper”; errors in Guardian story revealed
    • A World Bank "secret report", which blamed biofuels for a 75 percent increase in food prices, has been characterized by Bank officials as a "working paper" that was considered along with other working...
  • Canadian study attacked for bias: model used for gasoline, diesel showed 40-60 percent GHG emissions reduction for biofuels, then dropped
    • In Canada, a C.D. Howe Institute study that termed government biofuel incentives and policies as "misguided," has come under fire for bias in calculating greenhouse gas emissions from biofuels. The Ca...
  • International Grains Council projects increase in wheat stocks; International Food Policy Research Council projects “social unrest” from food shortages, blames biofuels
    • The International Grains Council said that it projected an increase in global wheat stocks in 2008-09 due to increased planting. Poor harvests in Australia, Ukraine and Canada resulted in significant ...
  • World Bank, IMF, foreign ministers squabble over biofuels, food policy
    • In Washington, a group of Finance ministers at World Bank and International Monetary Fund meetings exchanged sharp words over biofuels as food riots continue to erupt in Egypt, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, ...
  • Today in Biofuels Opinion: “To demonstrate leadership, the United States should lift its tariff on Brazilian ethanol that now shelters the U.S. industry”
    • Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana: "Increased political interference puts upward pressure on price and could eventually cause shortages in countries least able to cope. To demonstrate leadership, the Unit...
  • UN Sec-Gen calls on world leaders to attend Food vs Fuel summit; new UN Food head calls biofuels a “scandal”, as USDA projects 2008 corn prices lower than futures market
    • UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said that a UN task force on the food crisis will prepare recommendations for the June 3-5 High-Level Conference on World Food Security: the Challenges of Climate Chan...

    Written by Jim Lane · Filed Under Top Story 

    Comments

    3 Responses to “UK’s Guardian newspaper says suppressed World Bank report blames 75 percent food price increase on biofuels”

    1. triumph181 on July 8th, 2008 3:45 am

      This is a complete load of propaganda from a group of incredibly rich manipulators who have zero conscious and even less ethics. I can concede some fluctuation in the corn market due to bioethanol, but what percentage is due to the inflated gas prices we will never know. What percentage is also due to the endless chain of middlemen who hijack the food chain at every turn?

      Rice has tripled in value on the world markets and no biofuels are made of rice. The grocery Manufacturers Association is for sale and the going price was $300,000 as was widely reported recently. If we do not stop these idiots now we will face the same horrible consequences we now face from stopping all nuclear power after three Mile Island. The same bleating cretins who called for the halt to nuclear power then are now screaming to have it restarted.

      We, builders of alternative sources of energy must listen politely to these clowns, then ignore them and move on, eliminating one problem at a time. I can hardly wait for the day we bring algae production online only to be stopped by the society for the protection of the monocell.

    2. The decision to publish news concerning World Bank “secret study” on July 8th, 2008 2:02 pm

      [...] grumbling about the decision to publish a story about a World Bank “secret study,” obtained by the Guardian in the UK, and according to the Guardian story killed by senior management at the Bank to avoid embarrassing [...]

    3. Financial Freaks bridge » Blog Archive » World Bank: Biofuels lift food prices 75 percent on July 15th, 2008 12:40 pm

      [...] Digest has more background on the food versus fuel [...]

    Got something to say?

    You must be logged in to post a comment.