Each morning, Nicolas Barré, editor of 

Les Échos

, takes stock of a current economic issue.

Today, he looks back on the explosion in the prices of certain raw materials around the world, which could lead to food shortages in countries this year.

This is one of the multiple collateral effects of the Covid crisis: grain prices are exploding and plunging many countries into great difficulty ...

"Yes, the world prices of all major agricultural commodities, those which serve as the basis for human food but also for animals, are soaring. Wheat, corn, soybeans, rice ... The prices of these basic products are at their highest for six to seven years. Palm oil, widely used throughout Asia and with which we cook all the time, has never been so expensive in ten years. Result, the food price index, calculated by the FAO, the United Nations Agricultural Organization, is at its highest since 2014. For hundreds of millions of people around the world, this surge in food prices is an ordeal, even a tragedy. shortages appear, especially in East Africa.

How is this price hike explained?

Much of the explanation lies with China.

For several reasons.

First, China does the market: it is one of the biggest buyers of agricultural commodities, so it largely determines the prices.

However, it had bad harvests last year so it bought a lot at the end of last year.

You should also know that since the great famines of the Mao era, the Beijing regime has been obsessed with the risk of shortages.

So they are stockpiling.

And then the second reason: in 2019 and 2020, swine fever decimated pig farms.

Now China is trying to rebuild its herd and for that it needs tens of millions of tons of corn and soybeans to feed its animals.

And that drives up the prices.

And the Covid crisis worsens the problem ...

The closing of the borders has disrupted agricultural markets.

It has become more difficult to transport products to places of consumption.

Some countries have also imposed taxes on their exports: Russia, for example, taxes its wheat exports to curb soaring bread prices.

But for all the countries that depend on Russian wheat, this is very bad news.

The result of all this, according to the UN, is that in 2021 we will see food shortages in several regions of the world.

For these regions, with the health crisis, it's a double penalty. "