China supplies 95% of its own grain needs in past 10 years

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-07-04 16:06

Li said the jump in international grain prices was attributed to such factors as the rise of living costs owing to soaring oil prices, rapid development of biofuel and increasing demand for grain.

According to a World Bank report released on April 9, global wheat prices had soared 181 percent over the 36 months leading up to February 2008, and overall international food prices had risen by 83 percent.

Also in April, the United Nations special rapporteur on the right to food, Jean Ziegler, said in Switzerland that biofuel policies implemented by the United States and the European Union were one of the main causes of the current worldwide food crisis.

According to Ziegler, the United States used a third of its corn crop last year to produce biofuels while the EU was planning to create biofuels to supply 10 percent of its energy demand.

Ziegler also warned of worsening food riots and an increase of deaths by starvation as the current world food crisis continued.

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