World Food Inflation Pushing Millions More Into Poverty

The new arms race is food and energy, says Superfund Financial, in a report that predicts coffee, sugar and cocoa prices will rise up to tenfold by 2014 because of shortages. Reuters

Soaring Food Costs Pushing Millions Into Poverty -- NPR/AP

Soaring food and energy prices, still-fragile financial systems and continued tensions between the United States and China over trade and currency issues will all be on the agenda at meetings over the next three days of global finance officials.

World Bank President Robert Zoellick said Thursday that food prices are 36 percent higher than they were a year ago and already have pushed 44 million people into poverty. He called on major countries to do more to help poor countries meet the challenge of feeding their populations at a time of surging prices.

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My Comment: With wars and revolutions becoming the norm in regions like Africa and the Middle East .... having the necessary social stability to grow food crops is going to become harder and harder in these regions as this unrest continues. But the biggest impact will probably come from Japan's hungry consumers, who will now favor eating foodstuffs grown from outside of Japan in order to allay their fears of radiation poisoning .... hence driving the demand and price of basic foods.