TY - JOUR
T1 - Quantifying the causes of the global food commodity price crisis
AU - Hochman, Gal
AU - Rajagopal, Deepak
AU - Timilsina, Govinda
AU - Zilberman, David
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors thank the editor and associate editors, as well as anonymous referees, for valuable suggestions and comments that significantly improved the paper. The author also thank the World Bank for financial support (Knowledge for Change (KCP)Trust Fund of the World Bank: RF-P113535-RESE-TF092095), as well as the Energy Bioscience Institute and USDA/NIFA (Multi-State Hatch S1041). Any Remaining errors are the responsibility of the authors.
PY - 2014/9
Y1 - 2014/9
N2 - The food commodity price inflation beginning in 2001 and culminating in the food crisis of 2007/08, and which returned in 2010, reflects a combination of several factors including economic growth, biofuel expansion, exchange rate fluctuations, and energy price inflation. To quantify these influence we developed an empirical model that also included crop inventory adjustments, a factor that is underemphasized in the literature. The study shows that, if inventory effects are not taken into account, the impacts of the various factors on food commodity price inflation would be overestimated. Although our model explains most of the price fluctuation observed in 2001-2011, it is not able to explain all of it. Other factors, such as speculation, trade policy and weather shocks, which are not included in the analysis, might be responsible for the remaining contribution to the food commodity price increase.
AB - The food commodity price inflation beginning in 2001 and culminating in the food crisis of 2007/08, and which returned in 2010, reflects a combination of several factors including economic growth, biofuel expansion, exchange rate fluctuations, and energy price inflation. To quantify these influence we developed an empirical model that also included crop inventory adjustments, a factor that is underemphasized in the literature. The study shows that, if inventory effects are not taken into account, the impacts of the various factors on food commodity price inflation would be overestimated. Although our model explains most of the price fluctuation observed in 2001-2011, it is not able to explain all of it. Other factors, such as speculation, trade policy and weather shocks, which are not included in the analysis, might be responsible for the remaining contribution to the food commodity price increase.
KW - Biofuels
KW - Food
KW - Food commodity prices
KW - Fuel
KW - Inventories
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U2 - 10.1016/j.biombioe.2014.06.012
DO - 10.1016/j.biombioe.2014.06.012
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84903980291
SN - 0961-9534
VL - 68
SP - 106
EP - 114
JO - Biomass and Bioenergy
JF - Biomass and Bioenergy
ER -