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Financial speculation is pushing up food prices and causing hunger and poverty around the world. George Osborne can act to prevent this. Email him now.

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Dear George Osborne, Chancellor of the Exchequer,

Excessive speculation on food by financial institutions has fuelled food price inflation, which has added £260 to the average UK household’s food bill and left millions across the world facing hunger and malnutrition.

Commodity derivative markets need better regulation to ensure stable and affordable food prices for the benefit of consumers, producers and businesses in the UK and globally. Better regulation of commodity futures markets has been called for by a wide range of experts, including the Head of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, the CEO of Starbucks and the Chief Executive of Unilever.

I welcome the UK government's support for better transparency in commodity derivative markets. I therefore ask that you support proposals, as part of the review of the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID), that require almost all food derivatives deals to take place on regulated markets.

In addition, to prevent excessive speculation from distorting food prices, position limits are needed to restrict the share of the market that can be held by financial institutions at any given time. Please support the introduction of such measures, not just to prevent market manipulation, but to make sure these markets serve their basic functions for food producers and consumers. The adoption of weaker approaches, such as position management, could result in effective deregulation and would fail to address food price volatility.

Yours sincerely,

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