Biofuels One Factor in Rising Food Prices
对生物燃料需求导致粮价猛涨？

　
Soaring food prices are causing big problems in many parts of the world today. One factor in the ballooning costs may be the increasing global demand for biofuels - vehicle fuels made at least partly from corn (maize) or other food crops.

粮价的猛涨给当今世界很多地区造成严峻问题，而全球对生物燃料需求的不断增加可能是粮食成本飙升的一个原因。生物燃料是一种汽车燃料，至少其中一部分是由玉米或其它粮食加工而成的。

Some critics of biofuels contend that using food-based fuel to power vehicles amounts to a competition for food between people and automobiles.

一些批评使用生物燃料的人士坚持认为，使用以粮食为基础的燃料来行驶车辆等于是在人和汽车之间争夺粮食。

World Bank President Robert Zoellick said recently his agency has concluded that increased biofuel production is one factor in higher food prices. "While many are worrying about filling their gas tanks, many others around the world are struggling to fill their stomachs. And it's getting more and more difficult every day," he said.

世界银行行长佐立克说，世界银行最近的研究发现，生物燃料产量增加是导致粮价高企的一个原因。他说：“在很多人对加满自己的油箱感到担忧的同时，全球各地有很多其他的人在想尽办法填饱自己的肚子。随着时间的推移，情况变得越来越艰难。”

The World Bank report says concerns about oil prices, energy security and climate change have led governments to encourage people to produce and use more biofuels and less petroleum. The report says that means greater demand for raw materials, including wheat, soy, palm oil and corn, which means costlier food. The World Bank also blames the food price increases on more expensive energy and fertilizer, as well as export bans and a weak dollar.

世界银行的报告说，对油价、能源安全和气候变化的担忧已经促使各国政府鼓励人们多生产和使用生物燃料，少用石油。报告说，这意味着对包括小麦、大豆、棕榈油和玉米在内的原材料的需求增加，同时也意味着粮食价格更加昂贵。世界银行还把粮价的上涨归咎于更加昂贵的能源和化肥，以及禁止出口和美元疲软。

With that in mind, Kimberly Elliott, a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development, says it's time for governments to stop placing so much emphasis on corn-based biofuels such as ethanol. "So it's driving up food prices because we're shifting corn from food to fuel, and not doing very much for the environment, if anything, and it is very costly, so it's really a policy that just doesn't make sense," he said.

全球发展中心的资深研究员金伯利.埃利奥特说，现在是各国政府停止强调以玉米为原料生产诸如乙醇等生物燃料的时候了。埃利奥特说：“由于我们把玉米从粮食转变为燃料才抬高了粮价，但对环境的好处并不大。即使有好处的话，代价也太昂贵，因此说，这的确是个毫无意义的政策。”

The central U.S. state of Iowa is among the nation's leaders in growing corn and making ethanol. In Iowa City, Michael Ott, the executive director of Biowa, a trade association for biofuel producers, says encouraging ethanol production is not really a choice between food and fuel. "The corn that is used to make ethanol is inedible to humans. Only about five percent of the corn crop is directly consumed. The rest is fed to animals - like cattle, pigs and chickens - and then turned into products. So there's a lot of things that are made from corn. And to say that it's really a competition is not very fair," he said.

美国中部的爱奥华州是全美主要的玉米产地和乙醇生产基地。在爱奥华市，生物燃料生产商协会--Biowa的执行主任迈克尔.奥特说，鼓励乙醇生产决非是在粮食和燃料之间做出选择。他说：“用来生产乙醇的玉米不是供人类食用的玉米。人类直接消费的玉米仅占大约5%。其它的玉米是牛、猪和鸡等动物的饲料，然后转化为产品。因此玉米能生产出很多产品。那种认为这是争夺人类口粮的说法是不公平的。”

Still, a bushel of corn that sold for two dollars and 12 cents in January, 2005 went for almost six dollars ($5.97 on the Chicago Board of Trade) at Friday's close.

但是，在2005年1月，一蒲式耳的玉米仅为2.12美元，但上星期五芝加哥期货交易所收盘时，每蒲式耳的玉米价格为5.97美元。

One alternative might be to make ethanol from something other than corn. Brazil's agriculture minister believes the answer may be sugar.

一种选择是使用除玉米以外的东西来生产乙醇。巴西农业部长认为，答案可能是蔗糖。

Reinhold Stephanes says his government is boosting Brazil's output of ethanol made from sugar without hindering efforts to increase food production. Brazil is the world's largest sugar producer, and it is expected to use the majority of the cane it harvests this season to make ethanol.

莱茵霍尔德.斯特凡恩斯说，巴西政府正在提高用蔗糖生产乙醇的产量，但不会妨碍为增加粮食生产所做的努力。巴西是世界上最大的产蔗糖的国家，预计巴西将把今年收获的大部分甘蔗用来生产乙醇。

In New York, the head sugar trader for the trading company Newedge USA, James Cassidy, says that approach is working for Brazil, but it's not likely to help the United States. "Most countries don't have enough acreage for sugar. The cost of sugar production is too high in those countries. That's the case in the U.S. We don't have anywhere near enough excess sugar, we're an importer of sugar. We don't have enough area to expand our acreage for sugar production, and we don't have a cost of production low enough to make it feasible," he said.

在纽约，期货交易公司Newedge USA的首席蔗糖交易员詹姆斯.卡西迪说，这种办法适合巴西，但可能对美国的帮助不大。他说：“大多数国家都没有足够的蔗糖种植面积，在那些国家，生产糖的成本太高。美国就是这种情况。我们还远没有足够的过多的蔗糖，我们是蔗糖进口国。我们没有足够多的土地扩大蔗糖生产的种植面积，我们的生产成本也没有低到使用蔗糖生产乙醇成为可能。”

Kim Elliott of the Center for Global Development says the long-term solution is to put more effort into developing the next generation of biofuels. "Ethanol that comes from switchgrasses or other sources, or from biomass, that is, you use the corn stalks rather than the corn itself. Those are both more efficient, potentially, and don't have these land-use effects. You can still use the corn for food and not have the increasing demand for land," she said.

全球发展中心的埃利奥特说，长期的解决方案是将更多的努力放在发展下一代生物燃料上。埃利奥特说：“用柳枝稷或其它来源，或用生物质来生产乙醇，即用玉米杆而不是玉米本身来生产乙醇。这些既可能更有效率，而且对土地的使用没有影响。人们仍然可以用玉米做粮食，不增加对土地的需求。”

In Iowa, Michael Ott says that next generation of biofuels is on the way. "I firmly believe that corn-based ethanol is the initial solution. It's not the last thing that we're going to make. It works well. It is a supplement that's taking a small percentage of the market. But it's giving us the infrastructure, it's giving us the access to modify the process to make bigger and better things," he said.

奥特说，在爱奥华州，人们已经在研制下一代的生物燃料。奥特说：“我坚信，以玉米为基础的乙醇是初期的解决办法。但这不是我们最后要使用的原料。这种方法在起作用，作为一种补充，玉米提炼的乙醇在市场中只占很小的百分比。但这为我们提供了基础设施，这让我们能修改生产过程，生产出更多更好的东西。”

Or perhaps the solution lies not in increasing energy production, but in reducing energy consumption. Eric Holt-Gimenez, the executive director of Food First, the California-based Institute for Food and Development Policy, says people need to use less fuel, no matter what kind. "The whole problem with this biofuels mania is that we're being invited to believe we can overconsume our way out of overconsumption. It's over. We can't continue to consume the way we consume, not energy, anymore. We're going to have to cut back," he said.

或许出路并不在于增加能源生产，而在于减少能源消费。埃里克.霍尔特-希尔尼斯是加州的粮食和发展政策研究所--粮食第一(Food First)的执行主任。他说，不管是哪种燃料，人们都需要减少使用。他说：“生物燃料的整个问题是，我们自以为我们能通过超前消费来解决超前消费的问题。但这种时代已经一去不复返了。我们不能以现在的消费形式来继续消费，不能再这样消费能源了。我们必须减少能源消耗。”