World food prices rose to record levels in February and grain costs may continue to rise in the next several months, the United Nations has said.
An index of 55 food commodities rose 2.2 per cent to 236 points from 230.7 in January, the eighth consecutive gain, the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said today.
Wheat rose as much as 58 per cent on the Chicago Board of Trade in the past 12 months, corn gained 87 per cent and rice added 6.5 per cent.
Prices surged as bad weather ruined crops from Canada to Australia and Russia banned grain exports after its worst drought in a half century.
Global food prices probably will rise in the first half of this century because of an expanding population and higher incomes, slower crop-yield growth and the effect of climate change, Ross Garnaut, the Australian government's climate-change adviser, said yesterday.
Food production will have to climb by 70 per cent between 2010 and 2050 as the world population expands to 9 billion and rising incomes boost meat and dairy consumption, the FAO forecasts.
The dairy index climbed to 230 points in February from 221.3 in January. Milk futures traded in Chicago jumped 15 per cent last month following a 26 per cent surge in January, the biggest monthly gain since March 2004.
The FAO's sugar-price index slipped to 418 points from a record 420.2 points in the previous month. The UN agency's index is trade-weighted, with the sweetener accounting for 7 per cent.
Raw-sugar prices climbed 37 per cent in New York in the past year.
The gauge for meat, which makes up 35 percent of the overall index, rose to 169 points from 165.9 points.
Bloomberg