Management of Volatility in the Grain Market

Food prices have steadily risen since the 1990s, and price were especially volatile in the years 2008 and 2010. This trend has also been reflected in the European grain market, which presents all European companies along the food value chain with new challenges. This paper focuses on the impacts of...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inIDEAS Working Paper Series from RePEc
Main Authors Guenther-Luebbers, Welf, Henke, Soren, Theuvsen, Ludwig
Format Paper
LanguageEnglish
Published St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 01.01.2012
Subjects
Volatility
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Summary:Food prices have steadily risen since the 1990s, and price were especially volatile in the years 2008 and 2010. This trend has also been reflected in the European grain market, which presents all European companies along the food value chain with new challenges. This paper focuses on the impacts of increased price volatility on the grain market. Furthermore, it describes and evaluates government interventions attempting to reduce this volatility. At the same time, it describes and assesses private management methods of dealing with price volatility. In this article, we provide an opportunity to understand how the European cereals market evolved to reach its present state and suggest future possible price assurance systems, such as insurance for the basic monetary security of cereal products for all of the parties involved.