Brasília – Global food prices reached a new historic record in January, according to a press release issued by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) today (3). The FAO Food Price index, which analyses a group of basic products and their price variations on the global market, pointed at growth of 3.4% over December 2010.
With this, the index reached 231 points. "It is the highest level since the FAO started calculating food prices in 1990. The prices of all groups of basic products controlled registered strong expansion in January, except for meats, which remained stable," said the organisation in its press statement.
The price of grain rose 3% over December and reached its highest value since July 2008, when the so-called food crisis took place, due to high price increases. Dairy products presented appreciation of 6.2%, despite still 17% below the record for November 2007. Sugar, at record prices, rose 5.4%.
"The new figures clearly show that the pressure of higher global prices on food has not dropped", said the FAO economist and specialist in grain, Abdolreza Abbassian. According to him, higher prices tend to persist in coming years.
*Translated by Mark Ament
