Food Speculation
Commodities that can be traded on the stock exchange and whose prices rise are attractive for investors. It is said that investing capital in this way stimulates the business sector. In reality, however, investors, bulk producers and wholesalers profit from food speculation, but not the producers or consumers in the world’s poorest countries who spend up to eighty percent of their income on food for themselves. In 2008, when global market prices for maize, wheat and rice skyrocketed and stockbrokers raked in massive profits, the number of people starving exceeded the billion mark for the first time in history. If the human right to food is to become more than words on a piece of paper, food speculation must be stopped. Insurance policies and loans, which farmers are meant to take out in the future in order to hedge against price fluctuations on the global market, are not the solution. Instead, they serve as an additional source of income for investment banks and propel food speculation.