THE GLOBAL FOOD CRISES OF 2008 AND 2010: CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES

• Main Author: Olga Smirnova
• Format: Article
• Language: Russian
• Published: Inter-regional Institute for Spatial Development 2016-08-01
• Series: Krymskij Naučnyj Vestnik
• Subjects: food crisis; the world economy; the price of food; social structure; social instability; developing countries; developed countries; less developed countries
• Online Access: http://krvestnik.ru/pub/2016/08/07-Smirnova.pdf

The reasons for the sharp increase in food prices means a large number of factors, which include including the development of the biofuels market, the deterioration of soil quality and crop failures, devaluation of the U.S. dollar, increased energy prices, as well as restrictions on exports and imports in several countries. Therefore, the results of the projections show that the trend of volatility of food prices will only increase. Important factor of speculation in the food market, which are considered the reason for the increase in food prices of 2007–2008 when in the opinion of some researchers, there were no major changes in demand and supply, however, the change in food prices has occurred. Thus, the economic behavior of the largest players in the food market became the reason of sudden increase of hungry people in 33 countries around the world, «food riots» and was the cause of the change of political system in some less developed countries. Volatility in food prices as 2008 and 2010 showed that simultaneous sharp increase in prices of basic food is the cause of the political instability in the countries with different type of Federal system. The key factor in the preservation of the existing regime of governance was the presence of food independence, a developed agrarian sector of the economy even in the conditions of insufficient economic development. Thus, history shows that maintaining stable prices in the domestic market for energy and food is a key task of the state.