Since 2008, and following dramatic increases in prices, international
commodities markets systems have begun changing after decades of relative
indifference. The reasons for high, volatile food prices are manifold and widely analyzed
by the abundance of literature on the subject, that deals essentially with imbalances
in demand and supply. On the global demand for food, a factor with a huge
impact is the change in diet, especially in emerging countries where, an increase of
per capita income corresponds to an increase in the demand for animal-based foods.
As the demand for food increases, demand for land increases and pushes prices up,
thus fuelling speculation that mainly affects countries where land prices are lower.
The paper aims to highlight the behaviour of China and India –which are among
the most important emerging countries in terms of economic growth, concentration
of population and surface area – with regard to the large-scaleland investment
phenomenon. We have aimed to identify those macroeconomic indicators (such as
biofuels production, food price index, GDP per capita, cereals production and crude
oil prices, usually referred to in order to explain the trend) which best exemplify
how they can affect the two countries analyzed in the rush for land. The paper is
divided into sections. Following a brief presentation of adopted methodology, an
overall picture is presented of agriculture, renewable energy and land investment in
China and India and, by means of a correlation matrix, the impact that some macroeconomic
variables have on the phenomenon have been described