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Last Modified: 01 Sep 2012 14:10 GMT
Middle East |
Saturday, 1 September 2012
Barclays has made as much as half a billion pounds in two years from speculating on food staples such as wheat and soya, prompting allegations that banks are profiting handsomely from the global food crisis.
Barclays is the UK bank with the greatest involvement in food commodity trading and is one of the three biggest global players, along with the US banking giants Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, research from the World Development Movement points out.
Last week the trading giant Glencore was attacked for describing the global food crisis and price rises as a “good” business opportunity………………..
Damage to crop harvests from exceptionally dry weather this year raises sharply the Bank’s food price index
The World Bank issued a global hunger warning last night after severe droughts in the US and eastern Europe sent food prices to a record high.