The great (vegetable) oil shortage

International Herald Tribune: The other oil shortage
Prices for all edible oils — palm, soy, corn, and others — have been skyrocketing, in large part due to Western subsidies of oils used for production of biofuels. Like most environmental issues, sadly, what is a mere inconvenience in the supermarket for Western consumers is a life-or-death issue for those in poor countries who rely on oil to cook their food, and cannot afford the drastically higher prices. Even worse, many of the subsidies originally created to “help the environement” are actually encouraging the destruction of rainforests, as growers clear land to grow now lucrative oil palms.