EU, 2008
Tackling the challenge of rising food prices: Directions for EU action
For thirty years, food prices both in Europe and globally have fallen in real terms. This trend has been reversed over the past months by sudden and steep upward movements in world agricultural commodity prices. The price surge affected several commodities at the same time: cereals, meat, and dairy products all recorded two digit or even three digit increases in less than a year. The size and abruptness of the price surge have generated macro-economic imbalances across the world. Developing countries and the most vulnerable populations have been hit disproportionately. Millions of people living on the edge of poverty face hunger and malnutrition. Inside the Union, food price inflation reached 7% in March 2008. For European consumers, the effects of soaring food prices have been worsened by simultaneous increases in energy prices. Households purchasing power has gone down and it is the 16% of Europeans living below the poverty threshold who are most exposed.
