November 04, 2010
Lessons from 2008
In 2008, the Grocery Manufacturers of America (GMA) — representing the world’s largest grocery makers — launched a smear campaign against the ethanol industry in an attempt to blame rising food prices on American ethanol producers.
In response, Growth Energy countered with an aggressive effort to counter the invalid claims, erroneous news reports and false statements. We aggressively promoted the facts so that consumers across America would know the real reasons behind the hike in their grocery bill: high oil prices and Wall Street speculators.
Since then, countless academic, economic and government studies, including the most recent World Bank study, have disproven the so-called “food vs. fuel” myth, concluding what we have been saying all along: Wall Street speculators, high oil prices and the high costs of manufacturing, packaging and transporting all have far more impact than ethanol on the grocery prices that everyday Americans pay.
Because of our efforts, the debate on food-versus-fuel has been weakened, but with grain prices on the rise again today, we have to keep telling people the truth.
A recent article in the Wall Street Journal is helping us do just that. Today’s story analyzing the recent food price increases says “Costs are being driven by growing demand for meat in China, India and other emerging markets. That's driven up grain prices, which in turn boost the cost of chicken, steak, bread and pasta. Grain prices also have been nudged higher by drought in Russia, planting problems around the world and speculative trading.”
The article further proves that food price increases are impacted by a number of factors. Not surprisingly, however, nowhere in the story do the authors mention any impact by biofuels.
We have said it before and we will say it again, food vs fuel has always been and will always be nothing more than a myth.
