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Food prices soar worldwide
By KATHERINE CORCORAN
The Associated Press
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Food and fuel prices have soared in Pakistan, forcing many to depend on government subsidies. Earlier this month, women tried to order food at a subsidized food store in Rawalpindi, Pakistan.
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<!-- Commenting out fact box for Jody Cox --> <!-- /mi/pubsys/story/asset_list, include_asset_type=>"factbox" -->
<!-- END /pubsys/production/story/story_assets.comp --> <table> </table> MEXICO CITY | If you?re seeing your grocery bill go up, you?re not alone.From subsistence farmers eating rice in Ecuador to gourmets feasting on escargot in France, consumers worldwide face rising food prices. Freak weather is a factor. But so are profound changes in the global economy, including higher oil prices, lower food reserves and growing consumer demand in China and India.
The world?s poorest nations still harbor the greatest hunger risk. Clashes over bread in Egypt killed at least two people last week, and similar food riots broke out in Burkina Faso and Cameroon this month.
But food protests now crop up even in Italy. And while the price of spaghetti has doubled in Haiti, the cost of miso is packing a hit in Japan.
?It?s not likely that prices will go back to as low as we?re used to,? said Abdolreza Abbassian, economist and secretary of the Intergovernmental Group for Grains for the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization. ?Currently if you?re in Haiti, unless the government is subsidizing consumers, consumers have no choice but to cut consumption. It?s a very brutal scenario, but that?s what it is.?
In the long term, prices are expected to stabilize. However, consumers still face at least 10 years of more expensive food, according to preliminary FAO projections.
As of December, 37 countries faced food crises, and 20 had imposed some sort of food-price controls.
Already, there?s a lot of suspicion among consumers.
?They don?t understand why prices have gone up like this,? said Nicole Watelet, general secretary at the Federation of French Bakeries and Pastry Enterprises. ?They think that someone is profiting from this. But it?s not us. We?re paying.?
Food costs worldwide spiked 23 percent from 2006 to 2007, according to the FAO. Grains went up 42 percent, oils 50 percent and dairy 80 percent.
Poorer countries can speed up the adjustment by investing in agriculture, experts say. If they do, farmers can turn high prices into an engine for growth.
But in countries such as Burkina Faso, the crisis is immediate.
Days after the riots, Pascaline OuDedraogo wandered the market in the capital, Ouagadougou, looking to buy meat and vegetables. She said a good meal for her family cost 1,000 francs (about $2.35) not long ago. Now she needs twice that.
IrGene Belem, a 25-year-old with twins, struggles to buy milk, which has gone up 57 percent in recent weeks.
?We knew we were poor before,? she said, ?but now it?s worse than poverty.?
<hr class="infobox-hr-separator"> U.N. agency seeks donations
ROME | A U.N. food aid agency appealed to donor countries Monday to help close a spiraling gap of at least $500 million caused by soaring food prices. The World Food Program said efforts to feed the world?s needy would have to be scaled back May 1 unless it gets $375 million for food and $125 million to transport it.
The organization, the world?s largest humanitarian agency, provides food to as many as 70 million people worldwide.
http://www.kansascity.com/news/world/story/544963.html
By KATHERINE CORCORAN
The Associated Press
<!-- START /pubsys/production/story/story_assets.comp --> <script language="Javascript"> function PopupPic(sPicURL, sHeight, sWidth) { window.open( "http://media.kansascity.com/static/popup.html?"+sPicURL, "", "resizable=1,HEIGHT=" +sHeight+ ",WIDTH=" +sWidth); } </script> <!-- photo or image available --> <!-- Start: /pubsys/production/story/assets/image_embedded.comp -->
Food and fuel prices have soared in Pakistan, forcing many to depend on government subsidies. Earlier this month, women tried to order food at a subsidized food store in Rawalpindi, Pakistan.
<!-- End: /pubsys/production/story/assets/image_embedded.comp -->
<!-- Commenting out fact box for Jody Cox --> <!-- /mi/pubsys/story/asset_list, include_asset_type=>"factbox" -->
<!-- END /pubsys/production/story/story_assets.comp --> <table> </table> MEXICO CITY | If you?re seeing your grocery bill go up, you?re not alone.From subsistence farmers eating rice in Ecuador to gourmets feasting on escargot in France, consumers worldwide face rising food prices. Freak weather is a factor. But so are profound changes in the global economy, including higher oil prices, lower food reserves and growing consumer demand in China and India.
The world?s poorest nations still harbor the greatest hunger risk. Clashes over bread in Egypt killed at least two people last week, and similar food riots broke out in Burkina Faso and Cameroon this month.
But food protests now crop up even in Italy. And while the price of spaghetti has doubled in Haiti, the cost of miso is packing a hit in Japan.
?It?s not likely that prices will go back to as low as we?re used to,? said Abdolreza Abbassian, economist and secretary of the Intergovernmental Group for Grains for the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization. ?Currently if you?re in Haiti, unless the government is subsidizing consumers, consumers have no choice but to cut consumption. It?s a very brutal scenario, but that?s what it is.?
In the long term, prices are expected to stabilize. However, consumers still face at least 10 years of more expensive food, according to preliminary FAO projections.
As of December, 37 countries faced food crises, and 20 had imposed some sort of food-price controls.
Already, there?s a lot of suspicion among consumers.
?They don?t understand why prices have gone up like this,? said Nicole Watelet, general secretary at the Federation of French Bakeries and Pastry Enterprises. ?They think that someone is profiting from this. But it?s not us. We?re paying.?
Food costs worldwide spiked 23 percent from 2006 to 2007, according to the FAO. Grains went up 42 percent, oils 50 percent and dairy 80 percent.
Poorer countries can speed up the adjustment by investing in agriculture, experts say. If they do, farmers can turn high prices into an engine for growth.
But in countries such as Burkina Faso, the crisis is immediate.
Days after the riots, Pascaline OuDedraogo wandered the market in the capital, Ouagadougou, looking to buy meat and vegetables. She said a good meal for her family cost 1,000 francs (about $2.35) not long ago. Now she needs twice that.
IrGene Belem, a 25-year-old with twins, struggles to buy milk, which has gone up 57 percent in recent weeks.
?We knew we were poor before,? she said, ?but now it?s worse than poverty.?
<hr class="infobox-hr-separator"> U.N. agency seeks donations
ROME | A U.N. food aid agency appealed to donor countries Monday to help close a spiraling gap of at least $500 million caused by soaring food prices. The World Food Program said efforts to feed the world?s needy would have to be scaled back May 1 unless it gets $375 million for food and $125 million to transport it.
The organization, the world?s largest humanitarian agency, provides food to as many as 70 million people worldwide.
| The Associated Presshttp://www.kansascity.com/news/world/story/544963.html
