Food prices appear next to rise after fuel and gas

The United Nations issued a warning that soaring global food prices have hit their highest level to date, just as Malta this week came to grips with the price fluctuations of fuel and gas.

9 January 2011, 12:00am
by Martina Said

1 min read

The Independent reports that the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in Rome has warned that surging prices for cooking oil, cereals and sugar especially are threatening to put the lives of millions of people at risk.

The FAO’s food price index, an average of monthly price changes for meat, dairy, cereals oil and sugar reached the highest point since it began in 1990, that of 214.7 points in December. This topped the peak registered in June 2008 during the 2007-2008 food price crisis.

While cereal prices are back at levels last seen in 2008, sugar and meat prices are at their record levels.

In a report this week, the FAO said “From July to September 2010, wheat prices had surged by 60 to 80 per cent in response to drought-fuelled crop losses in Russia and a subsequent export ban by the Russian Federation.”

The FAO noted that the international prices of wheat alone increased 12 per cent in just the first week of December when compares to their November average.

During 2007-2008, prices in Malta rose by 9.7 per cent by June 2008. Sharp price increases had been registered for pasta, biscuits, breakfast cereals, bread, rice and flour and such dairy products as cheese and yoghurt.

The global price index for sugar in December rose to an all-time high of 398.4, up from 373.4 in November.

More from Martina Said

•

U xi hadd kien qal li dak kien avukat tar-rahal u fi zmienu 10 miljuni l'hawn u 10 miljuni l'hermm ma kinux jaghmlu differenza. Mela l-Moviment ta' Gonzipn x'inhuwa meta gab dan id-dizastru kollu? Gonzipn se jibqa' mfakkar bhala dak li farrak il-PN u lil Malta.

Luke Camilleri •

Il-Moviment gdid ta' Gonzipn - Moviment il-fuq tal-prezzijiet tal-affarijiet essenzjali tal-hajja! Dak kien zmien meta il-pajjiz kien jaffordja jitlef xi ghaxar miljun lira l'hawn u ghaxar miljun lira l'hemm waqt xi negozju tal-bejgh tal-assi tal-pajjiz! Eehh those were the days Dr. Gonzi...kieku kienu f'idejk illum dawk l-Ghaxar miljuni ( Liri u mhux Ewros) .....ghidlu jerga' jgibhom l'Emeritus Eddie sive' Edward !