World food prices near record high, says UN agency

[Guest guest]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-14062360

7 July 2011 Last updated at 06:57

World food prices near record high, says UN agency

Global food prices rose sharply in June, according to the UN Food and

Agriculture Organisation (FAO), after a steep increase in the price of sugar.

The price of sugar rose by 14% last month, as a result of high demand and lower

production in Brazil.

The FAO's food price index reached 234 points in June, close to February's

record level of 239.

The sugar price rise fuelled most of the increase, cancelling out falls in

prices of wheat, corn and soya.

The FAO's measure looks at a range of essential foods, including cereals,

oilseeds, dairy, meat and sugar.

High food prices - particularly those of wheat, rice and corn - have sparked

civil unrest in a range of countries where people rely on them for the bulk of

their food intake.

They were one of the factors that drove people on to the streets of Arab

countries earlier this year.

A global food crisis in 2008 also triggered mass protests, including riots in

some developing countries.

World cereal output is forecast by the FAO to be 3.3% higher in 2011-12 than in

the year before.

The agency's most recent bi-annual Food Outlook said that spiralling demand

meant that global food prices would remain high and volatile throughout this

year and into next despite record food production.

[Guest guest]

And its going to get worse. There are droughts here and flooding there in the US now and crops are being affected. Much of the corn crop is going to useless ethanol and corn acreage is displacing other crops as well. If there is a future society that can find enough surviving paper media, since they either won't understand what the machines are or the computer languages will be so different that they can't read the old digital data, they will surely think us beyond insane.

In a message dated 7/7/2011 9:30:09 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time, no_reply writes:

World food prices near record high, says UN agency