World food prices jump 6 per cent

World food prices jumped 6 per cent between June and July, according to new figures from the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation.

Cereal prices rose 17 per cent to a level only slightly below that reached during the 2008 food crisis.

Maize and wheat prices increased sharply.

The price of soybeans has also reached a record high.

Attention has focused on the severe drought that has damaged the harvest in the US, the world’s biggest exporter of cereals. There have also been calls for governments to relax requirements for the use of biofuels used in transport fuels, which consumed almost 40 per cent of the US maize harvest in 2011.

Researchers, campaigners and market players have also highlighted the influence of financial speculators in exacerbating the price spike.

New regulation needed

Effective European regulation is vital to stop speculation driving up the price of food.

The World Development Movement is calling on the UK Government, in particular Chancellor George Osborne, to support effective European regulation to curb food speculation.