G20将协调应对粮食价格飙升

G20 countries are to step in to try to co-ordinate a response to surging food prices, after the worst US drought in half a century devastated crops in the biggest agricultural exporter.

20国集团(G20)将采取行动来努力协调各国对粮价飙升的应对。此前，作为全球第一大农产品出口国的美国遭遇半个世纪以来最严重的旱灾，导致粮食大幅减产。

Discussions among senior G20 and UN agriculture officials about calling a session of a new emergency forum come after the cost of corn, or maize, surged to an all-time high, surpassing the level seen during the 2007-08 food crisis.

G20与联合国(UN)负责农业事务的高级官员正在讨论召集一个新的应急论坛的会议，原因是玉米价格现已升至历史高点，超过了2007-08年粮食危机期间的水平。

The US government on Friday stoked fears of a price surge, saying the drought had forced the country's farmers to abandon cornfields covering a larger area than Belgium and Luxembourg combined. The Department of Agriculture slashed its forecast for the crop and predicted record prices over the next year. At the same time, corn futures jumped 3.1 per cent to an all-time high of $8.43¾ before slipping.

上周五美国政府称，该国农民因旱灾被迫放弃的玉米种植区面积超过比利时和卢森堡两国面积之和。这番言论进一步加深了市场对玉米价格上涨的担忧情绪。美国农业部(USDA)大幅下调了玉米产量预期，并预言明年玉米价格将继续创下纪录高点。与此同时，玉米期货价格上涨3.1%，至每蒲式耳8.4375美元的历史最高水平，不过随后有所回落。

When Barack Obama arrives in corn-growing Iowa for a three-day tour on Monday, he will be entering a fierce debate in the run-up to the presidential election on whether the grain is worth more as food or biofuel.

本周一，美国总统巴拉克•奥巴马(Barack Obama)将赴玉米种植区爱荷华州进行为期三天的寻访。在总统选举即将到来之际，他将加入到一场关于粮食作为食品还是作为生物燃料价值更高的激烈争论中。

G20 officials plan to hold a conference call in the week of August 27 to discuss the meeting, which could be held in late September or early October, according to four officials familiar with the conversations.

G20官员计划在8月27日这周召开一次电话会议，就举行上述会谈进行讨论。据四名了解该会谈的官员表示，该会谈或将在9月下旬至10月上旬举行。

Officials emphasised the planned meeting was not a sign of panic. On the contrary, they said, it would be an attempt to avoid the kind of policies – including export restrictions and hoarding – that in 2007-08 transformed a shortage of farm commodities into the first full-blown food crisis in 30 years, with riots in 12 countries.

官员们强调，计划举行的会议并不是恐慌信号。恰恰相反，官员们表示此次会议是为防止出现出口限制和囤积居奇等政策而采取的努力，2007-08年间此类政策使农产品供应不足的局面演化成为30年来首个全球性粮食危机，导致12个国家发生暴乱。

The meeting would be the first of the Rapid Response Forum, a newly created body to "promote early discussion among decision-level officials about abnormal international market conditions". The forum is part of the G20-backed Agricultural Market Information System, created last year at the initiative of France and seen as a key response to the 2007-08 crisis. Leading G20 countries are "in favour of holding a meeting" as crop conditions deteriorate in the US, one of the officials said.

计划中的会议将是快速反应论坛(Rapid Response Forum)的首次会议，这一新成立的组织旨在"促进决策层官员就国际市场异常情况尽快展开讨论"。该论坛是G20支持的农产品市场信息系统(Agricultural Market Information System)的一部分，该系统在法国的提议下于去年成立，被视为是对2007-08年粮食危机的关键应对措施。一名官员表示，鉴于美国粮食生产状况恶化，G20成员国"支持举行会议"。

The UN is likely to use the meeting to push for a global debate about biofuel policies, particularly asking the US, the European Union and other countries to scrap government-mandated production targets.

联合国很可能利用本次会议之机呼吁举行有关生物燃料政策的国际讨论，特别是要求美国、欧洲以及其他国家废除由政府指定的生物燃料生产目标。

But several factors comfort policy makers. One is that the price of rice, a key commodity in Asia, remains stable; another is that production of local African staples such as cassava has increased significantly over the past five years.

不过，有几大因素对政策制定者来说是个安慰。其一是作为亚洲关键农产品的大米的价格水平保持稳定；其二是木薯等非洲当地主食作物的产量在过去五年中显著增长。