Managing high agriculture commodity prices is becoming a concern for policy makers in India as well as globally. While Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) has already warned of a ‘food price shock’, concerns are raised that this situation could worsen as various exporting countries could consider restrictions which will further create supply bottlenecks. As global food prices hit a record high, India just trails behind with food inflation touching a 23-week...

Global food prices rose in December, with the FAO Food Price Index at a record high, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation said on Wednesday, past 2008 highs when rising food prices sparked riots in a number of countries. Up for the sixth month in a row and fueled by surging sugar prices and rises in cereals and oils, the index was the highest since records began in 1990, in nominal...

In a major decision that is likely to add to the double-digit food inflation, the government has quietly raised foodgrain prices for Above Poverty Line (APL) families by over 40 per cent. The decision to this effect was taken at the meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on December 30. “The Committee considered the note dated 04/10/2010 from the Ministry of Consumer Affairs,...

Government’s food subsidy bill is expected to swell to around Rs 81,000 crore in the current financial year, up from the Budget estimate of around Rs 68,000 crore for 2010-11 because of higher cost of procurement of wheat and rice and increased allocations to below poverty line and above poverty line families in the current financial year, official sources said. The 19% estimated increase in food subsidy also includes those part...

The Food and Agricultural Organization said Wednesday that the world faces a "food price shock" after the agency's benchmark index of farm commodities prices shot up last month, exceeding the levels of the 2007-08 food crisis. The warning from the U.N. body comes as inflation is becoming an increasing economic and political challenge in developing countries, including China and India, and is starting to emerge as a potential problem in developed...