Most people in middle class homes and developed countries don't worry too much about food prices. The neighborhood grocery store still gets our regular visits for those daily staple items. However, for people in developing and challenged households higher food prices signal alarm.The Food and Agricultural Organization, an arm of the United Nations based in Rome, said its food price index climbed in December to its highest since it began collecting data in 1990. The measure, which tracks costs of items such as rice, wheat, corn, sugar meat, rose more than 4 per cent from a month earlier.
"That will raise fears over the possibility of another crisis like that of 2007-2008, when countries such as Bangladesh and Haiti were the scene of riots. The index has now topped those levels.
There are also fears that the flooding in north eastern Australia in Queensland, a key producing region for sugar, for example, will boost prices even more.
“Recent flooding in Australia’s northeast has added to supply concerns in a number of farm commodities, which began to emerge last summer with weather problems in key producing areas throughout the world."With the seven billion people in the world, food commodities will increasingly be placed under pressure.
