Following the

2007–2008 world food price crisis World food prices increased dramatically in 2007 and the first and second quarter of 2008, creating a International crisis, global crisis and causing political and economic instability and social unrest in both Poor countries, poor and develop ...

and a short lull in high prices during 2009,

food prices Food prices refer to the average price level for food across countries, regions and on a global scale. Food prices affect producers and consumers of food. Price levels depend on the food production process, including food marketing and food di ...

around the world again started to rise in 2010. To reduce the volatility of food markets and increase market transparency, several measures were considered at the

G20 The G20 or Group of 20 is an intergovernmental forum comprising 19 sovereign countries, the European Union (EU), and the African Union (AU). It works to address major issues related to the global economy, such as international financial stabil ...

summit in 2010. One of the outcomes was the establishment of the Agricultural Market Information System (AMIS) in 2011. In April 2011, the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and Grant (money), grants to the governments of Least developed countries, low- and Developing country, middle-income countries for the purposes of economic development ...

warned that the

global economy The world economy or global economy is the economy of all humans in the world, referring to the global economic system, which includes all economic activities conducted both within and between nations, including production, consumption, econ ...

was "one shock away" from an impending full-scale food price crisis. The high food prices have contributed to worldwide protests particularly in Africa. High food prices were also a major factor contributing to the

Arab Spring The Arab Spring () was a series of Nonviolent resistance, anti-government protests, Rebellion, uprisings, and Insurgency, armed rebellions that spread across much of the Arab world in the early 2010s. It began Tunisian revolution, in Tunisia ...

unrest. The deflated FAO food price index reached an all time high in 2012. As a result of a very dry summer in the United States and Europe, corn and soybean prices reached all-time highs in July 2012 and prices remained high throughout 2012 One reason for the increase in food prices may be the increase in

oil prices The price of oil, or the oil price, generally refers to the spot price of a barrel () of benchmark crude oil—a reference price for buyers and sellers of crude oil such as West Texas Intermediate (WTI), Brent Crude, Dubai Crude, OPE ...

at the same time, leading to increased demand for and production of

biofuels Biofuel is a fuel that is produced over a short time span from biomass, rather than by the very slow natural processes involved in the formation of fossil fuels such as oil. Biofuel can be produced from plants or from agricultural, domestic ...

. For example, the use of

maize Maize (; ''Zea mays''), also known as corn in North American English, is a tall stout grass that produces cereal grain. It was domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 9,000 years ago from wild teosinte. Native American ...

(corn) for

ethanol fuel Ethanol fuel is fuel containing ethyl alcohol, the same type of alcohol as found in alcoholic beverages. It is most often used as a motor fuel, mainly as a biofuel additive for gasoline. Several common ethanol fuel mixtures are in use aro ...

production rose from 15% of total U.S. maize production in 2006 to 40% in 2012. Over the next years, prices fell, reaching a low in March 2016 with the deflated FAO food price index close to pre-crisis level of 2006.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2010-12 world food price crisis 2010s in economic history 2010 in economic history 2011 in economic history 2012 in economic history Food politics