The EU should drop its biofuel target

When earlier this year the European Union confirmed its biofuel target, few foresaw by how much or how quickly the global outlook would change.

Although many of the factors that are contributing to today's wave of turbulence were already in place at the end of last year, their combined effects were not predicted: the global credit crunch, the rise in oil prices, and now the shortage - and rapidly soaring cost - of food.

When first formulated, the biofuel target (10 per cent of al...