World food prices still close to catastrophic levels

 obidike

World food prices were unchanged in August at levels close to those reached during the food crisis in 2008, the United Nations food agency said on Thursday.

The worst U.S. drought in more than half a century and poor crops from theBlack Sea bread basket have pushed grain prices to record peaks, raising
alarm over a potential repeat of the crisis in 2008 that sparked riots around the world.

FAO said this week that swift international action could still prevent a catastrophe, and has urged countries to consider adjusting biofuel
mandates while also warning against panic buying and restrictions on exports.

The FAO Food Price Index, which measures monthly price changes for a food basket of cereals, oilseeds, dairy, meat and sugar, averaged 213 points in
August, unchanged from July, the FAO said in its monthly update.

The Rome-based agency said it had cut its 2012 world cereals output forecast by 4 percent to 2.295 billion tonnes from a previous estimate of
2.396 billion tonnes due to the worsening prospects caused by the severe U.S. drought.