Biofuels responsible for rising food prices....

Drought, economic growth aren't the reasons for rising food prices...

A secret World Bank report reveals what many analysts had already assumed -- that the increased use of biofuels has had a direct, powerful impact on the cost of living.

The internal report was obtained by the U.K.'s Guardian newspaper and the results were published on Friday.

The study -- the most detailed of its kind so far -- shows a much more dramatic rise in food prices than had been previously estimated. The report finds that food prices have risen 75 per cent, according to the paper.

The study is a direct contradiction to claims by the U.S. that biofuels -- those made from plant products -- have only caused prices to rise by three per cent or less.

With many Western nations turning to biofuels to reduce their dependence on petroleum products, as well as cut down on greenhouse gas emissions, the report will come as a stunning rebuke.

The report, written by respected World Bank economist Don Mitchell, has not been published.

It argues that the U.S. position that rising food prices stem from economic growth in countries like China and India, simply isn't true.

And successive droughts in Australia haven't had a major impact either.

Instead, the report finds that the U.S. and EU's demand for biofuels has taken a significant bite out if the food supply, causing prices to rise.

In the U.K. since April, all gasoline and diesel has had to have a 2.5 per cent biofuel content.

The EU is considering making that a 10 per cent requirement by 2020.

"Without the increase in biofuels, global wheat and maize stocks would not have declined appreciably and price increases due to other factors would have been moderate," the report states.