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'Traders not responsible for rising food prices'

May 20 2008

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Food commodity traders are not responsible for rising food prices, an expert has commented.

Instead, Dr David Barling from the Centre for Food Policy at City University says that a number of interrelated factors are pushing prices up.

A number of farmers and foreign governments have claimed that speculators and traders putting their money into food commodities have caused price rises.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme he said: 'Speculation [in the stock markets] may have put further pressure on the prices but the causes behind the price rises are many.

'The interconnections may differ depending on the food commodity or the feed commodity that you're looking at.'

On the same programme, Nicholas Brooks, head of research at ETF Securities, agreed, commenting that biofuels were causing prices to go up.

'One of the most distorting factors' is subsidies for US ethanol producers, he added.

Ernst & Young Item Club says 'the implications for business are profound' and the UK is 'more exposed' to food price rises.

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