Food price rises stoke riot fears - FT.com

Food prices have soared to lev­els last seen in the 2007-08 crisis after a big October rise, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation said on Tuesday.
The increase will renew fears about a repetition of the wave of food riots that rocked poor countries from Bangladesh to Haiti two years ago.

Higher agricultural commodities costs will also hit consumers in richer countries, with food companies such as McDonald’s and Kraft already announcing price rises for 2011.

“The situation has deteriorated rapidly,” said Abdolreza Abbassian, economist at the FAO in Rome, adding that prices were “getting closer to the levels of 2008”.
The FAO said its price index, a basket of wheat, corn, rice, oilseeds, dairy products, sugar and meats, jumped last month to 197.1 points – up nearly 5 per cent from September and the highest level in more than two years.

The index has now surpassed the levels seen during the early stages of the 2007 food crisis, and it is only below the peak of the calamity between February and July of 2008.

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(P.S.:  Coming in the Next Issue of EGS later this week - emerging Bio-Feed producer in the world's largest emerging market)