Skip to main content

World Food Prices Hit New High

World Food Prices Hit New High - The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has raised the alarm on the potential danger of a “food price shock”, specially for the poor people in developing countries. The FAO has announced that its food price index… a basket tracking the wholesale cost of staple commodities like rice, wheat, corn, vegetable oils, dairy products, sugar and meats — jumped to 214.7 points, above the peak of 213.5 set in June 2008.

Abdolreza Abbassian, senior economist at the FAO in Rome told the Financial Times that the prices of agricultural commodities are likely to rise further. “It will be foolish to assume that this is the peak,” he said.

Even before the warning, many countries including China are already struggling with rising food prices. It has become such a political challenge so that in the case of China, taming inflation has become a top priority, even if it means having to move up the value of the yuan against the dollar faster than usual.

World Food Prices Hit New High

“The world faces a food price shock,” the FAO economist told the Financial Times, even as he warned that the spike could lead, “if prolonged several months, to a food crisis.” Food commodity traders are reported to be worried that prices could rise further due to weather conditions.

The La Niña weather phenomenon, now causing drought in key growing areas of Argentina, Brazil and the US may intensify. The same phenomenon causes an abundance of rain in our part of the world as in the extensive flooding now being experienced in Northern Australia and in some areas of the country like Bicol and parts of Mindanao.

According to Businessweek, there is an added pressure on food prices: recovering economies. Ephraim Leibtag, US Agriculture Dept. food price forecaster told BusinessWeek: “Increased global trade coming out of the recession, some increased consumer demand, and higher energy and commodity costs for food production” will boost prices. The USDA expects a rise in oil prices to lift demand for ethanol by 5.1 percent in the U.S., which will affect corn prices. The agency foresees U.S. food inflation of 2 percent to 3 percent, the highest since 2008.

World Food Prices Hit New High
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Farm dogs maul Irish Tourist

Farm dogs maul Irish Tourist - An Irish tourist who was mauled to death by two dogs while visiting an organic farm in Penang yesterday morning had more than 50 bite wounds and lacerations all over his body. Penang Hospital Forensic Department head Datuk Dr Bhupinder Singh, who performed the post-mortem on Maurice Sullivan (pix), 50, today, said he found the wounds on the victim's head, neck, hands and legs. "The victim had died as a result of severe haemorrhage due to multiple injuries from the dogs' bites," he said, adding that there were no signs that Sullivan suffered any ailment at the time of death. Farm dogs maul Irish Tourist Bhupinder also said both Sullivan's ears and the left side of his face were gnawed off in the incident. One of the ears was recovered from the scene. Bhupinder told reporters this after carrying out the post-mortem which began at 10am. Sullivan was attacked by two mongrels at the farm while taking photographs of the gr...
6 comments
Read more

Man Hits Teen on Plane Over iPhone

Man Hits Teen on Plane Over iPhone - Police say a man on a Southwest Airlines flight from Las Vegas punched a teenager who refused to turn off his iPhone as the plane approached the Boise airport. Officers arrested 68-year-old Russell E. Miller, of Boise, on suspicion of misdemeanor battery Tuesday. He has been released from jail on bond. Witnesses told police the 15-year-old was playing games and listening to music on his cell phone when flight attendants instructed passengers to turn off their electronic devices because the plane was landing. Witnesses told police that when the teen didn't respond, Miller got angry and punched the boy in the arm. Miller says he "tapped" the teen on the shoulder after he refused to turn off the phone. He told the Idaho Statesman that he may have "overreacted," but that he did not punch the teen. Man Hits Teen on Plane Over iPhone
5 comments
Read more

Contactless Debit Cards

Contactless Debit Cards - Contactless debit cards will make their formal debut in Canada next year with the launch of Interac Flash from Acxsys Corp.’s Interac Association, Canada’s national debit network. Interac’s first two Flash issuers are Scotiabank and RBC Royal Bank, which will roll out their first contactless cards next summer. The first acquirer is TD Merchant Services, a unit of Toronto-Dominion Bank. More issuers and acquirers are on the way, an Interac spokesperson tells Digital Transactions News, though no announcements have been made yet. Interac and the banks tested Flash this summer at some high-volume, small-ticket merchants in downtown Toronto. The spokesperson expects national merchants will be making formal announcements about acceptance. “There’s a lot of excitement in the merchant community,” she says. “Merchants are looking for that faster throughput.” In a statement, the Retail Council of Canada endorsed the new card. “Interac Flash is a welcome and needed ...
Post a Comment
Read more