«On the world agri-food markets we are witnessing a new strong leading role in speculative finance which is conditioning the real market with price dynamics, just think of corn and soft wheat which must cost a lot. On these productions there are 4 international operators, Chinese, South American and American. The feeling is that a subprime agri-food market is being built ». The alarm comes from Massimiliano Giansanti, president of Confagricoltura in his speech at the meeting number 101 of the agricultural organization who does not hide his concern about the risk of default for financial reasons of the entire supply chain.
From his point of view “we must arrive at defining our agri-food model that is accompanied by European institutions and that can act as a counterpart to what is being imposed on a global level” also because “the presumed food self-sufficiency alone will not guarantee us the safety”. What to do then? “We must return to an open and free but regulated market that prevents the current Bolsonaro, world leader in vegetable proteins, from imposing a global price for soy that would risk undermining important supply chains for Made in Italy such as zootechnics”.
And it is up to Europe to intervene: “It must study a truly integrated agri-food model in which differences in tax matters and labor regulations are overcome, which risk undermining the competitiveness of some to the advantage of others”. This is why «we are thinking of giving an overall picture that regulates internal competition in the European market, avoiding that producing oil in Germany is cheaper than doing it in Italy. The challenge can only be won by regulating the market and promoting digitization ».