152 Management 2015 Vol.19, No. 2 Determinants of prices increase of agricultural commodities in a global context Michał Borychowski, Ph.D. Student Poznań University of Economics and Business Department of Macroeconomics and Agricultural Economics Professor Andrzej Czyİewski Poznań University of Economics and Business Department of Macroeconomics and Agricultural Economics MICHAŁ BORYCHOWSKI ANDRZEJ CZYŻEWSKI Determinants of prices increase of agricultural commodities in a global context1 1. Introduction Agricultural commodity prices are the result of the interaction of many factors, including basic aggregates of market – supply and demand. There are complex linkages between them and they are further modified and distorted by the action of government and government policies. Thus it is fully justified to say that the increases of agricultural raw materials’ prices, which have taken place in recent years, were the result of many factors (Kretschmer, Bowyer and Buckwell 2012, p. 31). The chart below shows the global Food Price Index after 2002. In the period 2003-2008 prices of some agricultural commodities and food doubled. These increases were the highest and the broadest after World War II. It is also noted that these prices reached record highs or were close to maximum levels (Abbott, Hurt and Tyner 2008, p. 5, Baffes 2009, p. 2). After 2008 there was a certain decrease in prices, but in 2010 prices again were very high, and in 2011 they reached record-high levels, resulting in Food Price Index reached 169.1 (taking into 1 This article was financed by the National Science Centre granted on the basis of the decision number: UMO-2013/11/N/HS4/03194. ISSN 1429-9321 DOI: 10.1515/manment-2015-0020 Brought to you by | Islamia University Authenticated Download Date | 3/14/18 9:09 AM