ROME – World food prices stabilised in August at levels close to those reached in the food crisis of 2008, and global grain stocks are likely to shrink this year as cereal crop output falls short of what is needed, the United Nations food agency said Thursday. FAO Director General Jose Graziano da Silva called for international action to calm markets but also said the August price index, which remained unchanged from July, provided some cause for optimism. Earlier Thursday, Russian Deputy Agriculture Minister Ilya Shestakov said G20 countries would hold a rapid response meeting on the grain market next month. The worst US drought in more than half a century and poor crops from the Black Sea bread basket have sent grain prices to record peaks, raising alarm over a potential repeat of the crisis in 2008 that sparked riots around the world. The FAO Food Price Index, which measures monthly price changes for a food basket of cereals, oilseeds, dairy, meat and sugar, averaged 213 points in August, unchanged from July, FAO said in its monthly update. Although the index was below a peak of 238 points in February 2011, when high food prices helped drive the Arab Spring uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa, it is still close to levels during the food price crisis in 2008. “Although we should remain vigilant, current prices do not justify talk of a world food crisis. But the international community can and should move to calm markets further," Graziano da Silva said in a statement. “We are reassured that the drought problems in the US will not pull us into a similar situation that we had in 2008," he said. – Reuters
