World food price increases and Brazil: an opportunity for everyone?

After a period of steady growth, the world economy has recently entered a new phase of instability. A major aspect of this scenario was the recent increase in world commodity prices, which became a source of economic concern for policymakers all over the world. Of particular interest among those commodities is the increase in food prices, which began to rise in 2002 and have accelerated markedly over the last few years (FAO, 2008a). There is an ongoing and intense debate about the causes of this persistent price increase, and it is well established that there are many causes behind this phenomenon, including the rapid rate of economic growth in developing countries, falling food stocks and rising demand, short harvests in some major countries, oil price increases and the devaluation of the United States dollar in relation to most other currencies.

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