Food prices to stay high despite record crops, says UN (Guardian)

1pm BST
Food prices to stay high despite record crops, says UN

Julian Borger, diplomatic editor
guardian.co.uk, Thursday May 22 2008

World food prices are likely to stay high and volatile
for the foreseeable future despite some record crops
this year, according to a report published today by the
UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).

The crisis has driven up food import bills around the
world, which are expected to total more than one trillion
US dollars in 2008, $215bn (£108bn) more than last year.
The poorest and most vulnerable countries will be the
hardest hit. The FAO report said their collective food
import bill is expected to rise to $169bn this year, up
40% from 2007.

The FAO's Food Outlook report suggests that production
has responded to the price spikes of recent months which
have threatened 100 million of the world's poorest with
hunger. But it said that high agricultural input prices,
national policies curbing exports, the cultivation of
biofuels, and rising demand means that prices will fail
to stabilise or return to the low levels of previous
years.

"Rice has caught the headlines in recent weeks, but from
dairy to wheat and soybeans to sugar, price spikes and
market volatility appear to have become more the norm
than the exception," the FAO report said.

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