World Bank report: Biofuels caused 75% of jump in food prices

Eat or drive? After months of debate by the role of biofuels in creating the ongoing food crisis, a leaked report from the World Bank says that the use of corn and other plants to prepare fuel is responsible for 75% of the increase in global food prices.

The report strongly contradicts US government claims that biofuels have only driven up prices by less 3%. The study was completed in April, but sources believe it may have been withheld from publication to avoid

embarassing the White House.

The report will be controversial, with soaring food prices putting tens of millions of citizens around the world below the poverty line, and causing rioting in a number of countries. It will plus create further uncertainty around the growth of biofuel industry, which in North America and Europe has been heavily subsidized by government sas a potential replacement for fossil fuels.

About a third of US corn now goes into making ethanol to potential vehicles.

[Source] Patrick Metzger