G20 Conference Series: Can Free Markets Still Feed and Power the World?
Can Free Markets Still Feed and Power the World?
This was the hot topic discussed by a panel including commodity traders, journalists and economists before a 100-strong audience at the Institut Français on 1 June.
The conference was the fourth in a London-wide series linked to the French G20 presidency and focusing on issues such as global governance, Internet, the International Monetary System and financial regulation, and climate change.
At a time of high volatility in global commodity prices, broad consensus emerged among the panellists that fundamental supply-and-demand imbalances were to blame, rather than speculation. Soaring prices were put down to economic and demographic growth and to limited supply resulting from factors like insufficient long-term investment, climate change and unilateral food export restrictions.
There was broad consensus on how to address the challenges: for example, by improving transparency, preventing waste, investing in technology in emerging countries, banning trade subsidies, and helping producers mitigate the impact of sudden price changes (through the use of insurance tools).
The panellists welcomed the fact that the French presidency of the G20 had put food security and price volatility at the heart of its agenda.
The Panel
The conference was chaired by Javier Blas (Commodities Editor, Financial Times).
The panel included:
Pierre Jacquet (Chief Economist, Agence Française de Développement, tasked by President Nicolas Sarkozy to report to the G20 summit on commodity price volatility);
Marc Mourre (Managing Director and Vice-chairman for commodities, Morgan Stanley)
Richard Gower (Policy Advisor, Oxfam UK)
Tony Venables (Professor at Oxford University specialising in commodities and ancient chief economist for DFID)
PHOTOS
Expert panel, attentive audiences and the people who made this conference possible.