Oxfam Germany releases new report on German banks speculating on food commodities

“Taken together, German financial institutions are responsible for one sixth of the total global investment volume in agricultural commodities, which is estimated by the Barclays Bank to lie at 99 billion US$ (68.8
billion EUR)”

From the English summary:

Banks and financial advisors in Germany have
been promoting agricultural crops as an
attractive investment category for the past few
years: rising food prices promise high returns
that no one should miss, so they argue. The
higher the price of basic food commodities, the
higher the profits for investors — a bittersweet
formula indeed.

In Germany, we spend an average 10 per cent
of our income on food. Families in poor
countries, by contrast, must invest up to 80 per
cent. As prices rise, hunger grows. This
occurred in 2008: the global food crisis caused
the number of hungry people worldwide to rise
to over one billion and triggered hunger
protests in 61 countries. “Everyone is eating
less food. The women make the ultimate
sacrifice. They take their food after everyone is
done,” explained one agricultural worker during
an interview with Oxfam.

In 2010/2011, food prices skyrocketed once
again. Forty-four million people living in poor
countries—a number equal to more than half of
the German population—were driven into
hunger because they could no longer afford to
buy food. Speculation with food is one of the
key factors responsible for this extreme price
volatility.

A summary of the report in English can be found here.

The full report (in German) can be found here.