FAO/OECD Outlook: climate driving commodity prices higher

摘要

2011 is a "critical" year for harvests if global food stocks are to be replenished and commodity prices be knocked back below their 2010 peaks, the OECD and the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) have warned. "A period of high volatility in agricultural commodity markets has entered its fifth successive year. High and volatile commodity prices and their implications for food insecurity are clearly among the important issues facing governments today," the report states. The most frequent and significant factor disturbing markets is unpredictable weather conditions, the bodies say, forecasting "even more critical" drivers of volatility than the fires and drought of Russia and Ukraine seen last year.