Oral question asked in the House of Lords, by Lord Redesdale (Liberal Democrat). It was answered on Tuesday, 25 March 2008.

Food: Grain Stocks

Question: My Lords, what impact has the move to bioethanol in the United States had on the availability of grain? Has the subsidy by the US Government had a major impact on the amount of grain going out of food production and into bioethanol?

Answer: My Lords, there is no doubt, there have been some issues, particularly the effect on the harvest in the European Union and Australia. So far as the use of grains for biofuels are concerned—although the question relates to America—the EU has not been affected; some 2 per cent of production has been used for biofuels. The American situation is slightly different in the sense that in 2007-08 it used 80 millions tonnes of maize for biofuel and that is projected to rise to 110 million tonnes in 2008-09. There is some doubt as to whether that is sustainable, but it is not being done just to create fuel, there are other reasons. The subsidy, of course, is quite unacceptable.

Secondary information