Food prices in February hit a new record, breaking the previous one set in January and continuing an eight-month streak of rising prices, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Experts fear that rising food prices could lead to another food crisis similar to that of 2007-2008.
The FAO’s Food Index Price averaged 236 points last month up 2.2% from January and the highest recorded in the Food Index Price’s 21 years. The only commodity that didn’t rise was sugar.
The FAO adds that rising oil prices could push food prices even higher.
“Unexpected oil price spikes could further exacerbate an already precarious situation in food markets,” David Hallam, Director of FAO’s Trade and Market Division, said in a press release. “This adds even more uncertainty concerning the price outlook just as plantings for crops in some of the major growing regions are about to start.”
Given the complexity of world markets and agriculture, experts have pointed to a number of reasons behind the current food price rise including higher meat, dairy, and egg consumption, the commodity boom, fresh water scarcity, soil erosion, biofuels, growing human population, and climate change linked to extreme weather events such as last year’s heatwave in Russia.
Currently, the UN estimates that one billion people in the world are going hungry, nearly 14% of the world’s population.
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