Developing nations must end West's grain monopoly
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The global grain price has risen and fallen like a roller coaster twice within the last four years. What's causing these peaks in pricing?
The main cause is that nations which dominate the global grain market, headed by the US, are not doing their job in monitoring prices. They've overlooked the deliberate manipulation of prices by international speculators.
To change the current global grain pricing system, we need to launch a global grain reserve system centered on international grain and agricultural organizations. The emerging BRIC countries should participate in setting prices so that we can end grain importers' distrust of the global market, and world's confidence in the grain trade can be consolidated.
There are severe defects in the present global grain price operation mechanism, the roots of which are similar to the problems that caused the global financial crisis in 2008. This is an issue ignored by many analysts, who focus only on the short-term causes of high prices.
The lack of financial regulation in the US created chances for major investment bankers to wantonly prey upon small shareholders' interests through derivative-based financial products, triggering the financial crisis.
The current global grain crisis was also caused by the developed nations' lack of supervision over multinational grain companies. We cannot rely only on the US to solve the global food crisis, as the world's four giant grain companies are already heavily lobbying politicians and regulators to cripple the US efforts to control food prices.
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