Price developments and links to food security -price level and volatility

Since the mid-2000s agricultural and food prices moved to a higher level and in parallel with prices of other commodities –and at times have also been very volatile. These events led to concerns which, in different ways, brought to the forefront a debate about food security. Both developed and developing countries saw their consumers facing the impact of higher food prices, and their producers feeling the pressure from higher input costs. Multiple factors are responsible for the developments in agricultural prices, all of which have been the focus of separate analysis. Amongst the different causes identified, we find the changes in demand growth, both for food and industrial use, the slowdown in yield growth and access to land, the co-movement of agricultural prices with energy and other commodity prices, the financialisation of agricultural markets, changes in stocks, adverse or beneficial weather events and the effects of agricultural trade restrictions. In a series of Briefs(on Demand, Regional influences, Supply and Stocks) we analyse evolutions in these different drivers separately and bring themtogether in a concluding Brief.