Cost of food not going to stop rising ‘in foreseeable future’
He said the biggest price rises hitting consumers and expected to escalate further are for bread and vegetables.
As far back as September, all-time high food prices in 2013 were predicted by Rabobank, the global leader in food and agri banking — due to global weather upsets hitting farmers in 2012.
Rabobank analysis suggested world food prices might reach an all-time high by the summer. Leading the price surge is apples, with supply down 20%-30% due to a bad growing season — and prices in the UK for Braeburn apples already up 20%, for example.
Food price rises could hit the UK hardest because of the effects on farmers of the country’s wettest year on record, in 2012.
This resulted in the worst wheat yields in 20 years, and the smallest potato harvest since the 1970s, and poor autumn sowing conditions have left some grain growers without any winter crops in the ground. Britain’s chief scientist, Professor John Beddington, has said the cost of food was “not going to stop” rising in the foreseeable future, as much of the world’s agriculture depends on stable weather patterns, which have undergone “major changes” in recent years.
The latest commodity to shoot up in price is the brassica vegetables category such as cauliflower and broccoli. Bad weather conditions in Spain has prevented recovery of supplies.
Very wet and cold conditions in the south of Spain in the late autumn caused a lot of damage to crops.
The resulting lack of supply is now biting across Europe, and cauliflower and broccoli prices reached very high levels at Christmas. In the Netherlands, some big supermarket chains temporarily removed them from their shelves, saying the price was unaffordable for consumers.
