The Food Crisis of 2008: The Debate on its Causes and Connections with the Financial Crisis

Spring 2008 brought a dramatic increase in food prices. This increase appeared in absence of early warnings which should have been given by government authorities, scientific organisations or NGOs. German newspapers and magazines, however, reported several reasons to explain the misery which caused riots of people in desperate situations in several countries. The article tries to follow the arguments given by analysing their content in the light of statistical data, e. g. retrospective data on production and trade as well as forecasts of production, use and prices of agricultural products. The article shows that the increase of food prices is mainly caused by speculation on future markets as a consequence of a strategy of risk diversification by new actors.