Food Prices Hit “Dangerous Levels”

World Bank chief Robert Zoellick says global food prices have reached “dangerous levels,” and warns that their impact could complicate fragile political and social conditions in the Middle East and Central Asia. World Bank data released on Feb. 15 showed higher food prices – mainly for wheat, maize, sugars and edible oils – have pushed

Canada’s Food System Needs An Overhaul

The federal and provincial governments should encourage farmers to ramp up production this year to take advantage of strong prices but also help ease tight world stocks of grain and other commodities, says the Canadian Agri-Food Policy Institute (CAPI) and the Canadian Federation of Independent Business. They issued reports in early February urging gover nments


Africa, Caribbean Urged To Brace For Food Price Shocks

The World Bank and International Monetary Fund are warning poor regions that have so far not been hit by rising food prices, like sub-Saharan Africa and the Caribbean, to get ready to face them. Food price volatility is here to stay, the World Bank cautioned, amid growing worries there could be another full-blown food crisis

Is Cheap Food Something To Celebrate?

There were three storms making headlines over the past week, and only two of them were weather related. While the storm dubbed “Stormageddon” spread a wintry blast across 30 U.S. states, the Australian coast was hit by a major cyclone. But the storm that had all the world on edge last week was taking place


Food Costs At Records, UN Warns Of Volatile Era

Record-high global food prices showed no sign of relenting following a rash of catastrophic weather, highlighted by a major U.S. snowstorm and a cyclone in Australia, which could put yet more pressure on prices and spark further unrest around the world. The closely watched UN Food and Agriculture Organization Food Price Index touched its highest

FAO Head Wants New Commodity Rules

Market deregulat ion since 1999 has fuelled speculation on commodities markets, and that needs to be corrected to curb food price volatility, the head of FAO said Feb. 3. “We have created an environment that allows pure speculation,” FAO director general Jacques Diouf told Reuters Insider. “This is something that would require the necessary corrections


Saudi Arabia To Import More Wheat

Saudi Arabia plans to import around two million tonnes of wheat in 2011 like last year and will boost imports to three million tonnes after 2016 as it ends local production, a source at the grains authority said Feb. 2. The top OPEC oil exporter has emerged as a major wheat buyer to feed its

Food Price Spike Shows Reform Urgent

The current spike in food prices is a repeat of the 2007-08 crisis and indicates urgent reforms are needed to a stressed global agricultural system, John Beddington, the U.K. government’s chief scientist said on Jan. 24. “In 2007-08 everyone said this was just a one-off because we have been looking at price declines for 30


Rising Food Prices Bring Political Risks

Record food prices will hit the world’s poorest hardest, raising the risk of riots, export bans, foreign-owned farmland expropriation and further price spikes fuelled by short-term investors. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization said on Jan. 6 food prices hit a record high in December and could rise further on erratic global weather patterns. For

Heavy Rains To Increase Colombia Inflation

Strong rains flooding agricultural land and washing away roads in Colombia will increase inflation but not so much as to change consumer price targets, officials said Dec. 6. Bad weather has affected commodity-producing countries worldwide, from rains stalling the wheat harvest in Australia to dry spells in some of Argentina’s soy-growing areas and oil refinery