Sustainable Finance Geneva | November 28 2011
Investing in soft commodities : Be wise !
Public SFG Conference - Monday 28 November 2011, 17h30-20h00, Auditorium BNP Paribas, Place de Hollande, Geneva
Investments in commodities have increased continuously in the recent years, but the positive impact expected on hunger and malnutrition is not there yet. Despite the fact that food production has never been higher, 30 to 40% of the world production is lost today, due to a lack of infrastructure. Some blame speculation, others the unwillingness of the states. Many actors are also pointing out the disproportion between financial transactions and the financing of concrete activities.
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Programme with panelists’ biography
Conference Summary (english) | Résumé de la conférence (français)
After highlighting the complexity of commodity markets and mentioning that fresh water has been left out of the commodity discussion, the audience turned to questioning land investments in foreign countries known as “land grabbing”. The speakers agree that the rule is very simple: responsible investing must increase food production while using local production factors, i.e. work and land, and part of the food production must serve local consumers. Then this type of investment would not be “land grabbing”. Pension funds should abstain from investments that do not go by these rules and prefer investments in their own geographical area as an excess supply of non-productive capital has a negative influence on commodity prices. All agree that is it necessary to increase transparency in both physical and financial commodity markets. The creation by GAIN of the Access to Nutrition Index (ATNI) which will rank companies according to what they are doing to provide nutritious and affordable food is a step in the right direction.
