World food prices at all time high.

[ItsRobsLife]

BBC News - World food prices at fresh high, says FAO
The FAO Food Price Index, which measures the wholesale price of basic foods within a basket, averaged 231 points last month - its highest level since records began in 1990.

It was up 3.4% from December, the seventh monthly rise for the index.
"These high prices are likely to persist in the months to come," FAO economist Abdolreza Abbassian said.

Food costs at records, no let up on prices: FAO | Reuters
Hammering home the point the UN World Food Programme’s executive director Josette Sheeran said weather related problems and a backdrop of rising prices were ominous.

“We are entering an era of food volatility and disruptions in supplies. This is a very serious business for the world,” Mr. Sheeran told Reuters Insider TV on the sidelines of a UN Conference in London.

Surging food prices have come back into the spotlight after they helped fuel the discontent that toppled Tunisia’s president in January and have spilled over to Egypt and Jordan, raising expectations other countries in the region would secure grain stocks to reassure their populations.

Bring back food commods trade rules: FAO | Reuters
Market deregulation since 1999 has fueled speculation on commodities markets which , and that needs to be corrected to curb food price volatility, the head of FAO said on Thursday.

Change in global weather and eating habits are factors, but the FAO claim it is commodity speculation that is creating the highest ever food prices, making basic necessities unaffordable to millions and fuelling unrest worldwide.

[BobR]

Most commodity exchanges any longer seem to have all the dignity of a casino, and there is no reason to let people who do not use or produce a product insert themselves into the supply chain.
Pure greed at its worst, but sadly I would not want to hold my breath waiting for the practice to be stopped.

[Mid]

Wednesday, 16 February 2011

So big are the increases that economists are buzzing about them pushing deflationary Japan toward inflation.

Yes, rising costs for commodities such as wheat, corn and coffee might do what trillions of dollars of central-bank liquidity couldn’t.

Yet the economic consequences of food prices pale in comparison with the social ones.

Nowhere could the fallout be greater than Asia, where a critical mass of those living on less than $2 a day reside.

It might have major implications for Asia’s debt outlook.

It may have even bigger ones for leaders hoping to keep the peace and avoid mass protests.

continues :The next crisis is scary food for thought