Agricultural Price Swings Damaging Economies, Sarkozy Says

Agricultural futures markets need global regulation because price swings are damaging producers and consumers, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said, a week before G-20 ministers meet to discuss global food supply.

France, which heads the Group of 20 nations this year, will propose a market-information system similar to what already exists in oil, Sarkozy told a conference of farm groups in Paris today. The G-20 members account for 70 percent of agricultural land and 80 percent of world food trade, he said. Their farm ministers meet in Paris on June 22.