Global food prices up sharply, UN says

INTERNATIONAL food prices rose sharply in July after three months of decline, driven by a spike in the cost of grain and sugar, the United Nations has reported.

Severe drought gripping the US Midwest has sent corn prices soaring by almost 23 per cent and expectations of worsened crop prospects in Russia because of dry weather sent world wheat prices up 19 per cent, said the UN report, released on Thursday.

The US is the world's top exporter of corn, soybeans and wheat and the price rises are expected to be felt across the international marketplace, hurting poor food-importing countries, said a study by British charity Oxfam issued on the eve of the UN report.

The Rome-based UN Food and Agriculture Organisation said in its monthly price report that its index climbed by six per cent in July although it was well below its peak reached in February 2011.

The agency keeps a close watch on volatile global prices because spikes in the prices of staple foods have led to riots in some countries in recent years.

With corn, wheat and sugar prices sharply up, a bright note was that international rice prices remained mostly unchanged, as were dairy prices.

The agency's meat price index also fell.

Oxfam said "millions of the world's poorest will face devastation" from the rising prices. It declared that the days of cheap food are gone.

-  AAP