Global food prices reached a historic peak in January, according to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization, which began measuring food prices in 1990.
The FAO’s Food Price index averaged 231 points in January, up 3.4 percent from December 2010. That’s the seventh consecutive month that global food prices have increased.
“The new figures clearly show that the upward pressure on world food prices is not abating,” said FAO economist Abdolreza Abbassian. “These high prices are likely to persist in the months to come. High food prices are of major concern especially for low-income food deficit countries that may face problems in financing food imports and for poor households which spend a large share of their income on food.
“The only encouraging factor so far stems from a number of countries, where — due to good harvests — domestic prices of some of the food staples remain low compared to world prices,” added Abbassian.
Last month, The FAO reported that mounting pressure on food prices may drive up fish prices and cast a shadow on seafood sales in 2011.
