'Biofuels push food prices up'

World Bank President Robert Zoellick said that the demand for ethanol and other biofuels is one of the main factors driving global food prices up.

"There is no doubt that biofuels are one of the main factors. Clearly, programs to increase biofuel production in the US and Europe have contributed to increasing food demand." He added that droughts, speculation in the financial market and increasing food demand have driven commodity prices to escalate.

The jump in food and fuel prices triggered a series of riots in Haiti, Egypt and widespread strikes in Burkina Faso.

The sharp rise in food prices is the leading discussion topic on the annual spring conference agenda between the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington.

President of the World Bank (WB) Robert Zoellick . (Photo AP)

At the press conference, Mr. Zoellick held up the bread to express the seriousness of the food crisis."In Bangladesh, a 2-kg bag of rice . now consumes half of the total income per day of a poor family. The price of a loaf of bread has more than doubled. The poor people in Yemen spend up to a quarter of their income. Their import just to buy bread ".

Mr. Zoellick said, the situation of rising food prices will last long."I think we are facing a full price storm. Fuel prices rise. Demand in developing countries increases . As the Indian Trade Minister told me, switching from one meal a day 2 meals for 300 million people who demand a lot of food ".

". More meat requires more grains. Meanwhile, biofuels thrive. That's the main reason."

In the past two years, US corn prices have increased more than twice, mainly due to the need to produce alternative fuels such as ethanol. In addition, climate change, drought in Australia and Europe, causing crop failures pushed food prices up sharply.