09/01/10 15:07:55
>>296の続きになります。お願いします。
The cause of the current food crisis is multifaceted. A prolonged drought in Australia's wheat belt,
combined with richer diets and massive increases in fuel consumption in the surging economies of China and India, set the stage for higher food prices everywhere.
The soaring cost of oil makes producing and distributing food more expensive. At the same time, the increased use of corn for ethanol, while not creating shortages, has helped drive up the price of bushels.
If the crisis has an upside, it may be that the runup in global food prices has given some negotiators at the WTO in Geneva hope for progress in the current round of global trade talks.
The so-called Doha Round of trade negotiations calls for rich and poor nations to reduce subsidies for farmers and tariffs on food imports.
Talks broke off twice in the past two years amid acrimonious disagreements over subsidies and price controls.
But diplomats now expect to hand in a draft agreement to the world's trade ministers in May. One reason for hope: It's hard to justify crop price supports in a world experiencing instances of social unrest because of global food inflation.
India's minister of commerce and industry, Kamal Nath, has expressed optimism about a trade deal, and a senior U.S. trade official says pressure to solve the food problem "should make it easier to reach an agreement.
" But he cautioned that the ministers will consider the trade-offs and may balk.
"The reality is some people are still stuck on the lines of the past," he says.
Trade restraints worsen the food squeeze. Export restrictions by poor countries such as India and Indonesia take away the international market for local farmers' crops, reducing the incentive for farmers to grow more.
Meanwhile, rich countries' subsidies and import curbs mean too much of the world's food is produced in high-cost regions such as North America and Europe, both big exporters.