Growing Global Demand To Drive Food Prices Higher - StanChart

Food prices are likely to increase due to rising global demand, which could also fuel the risk of protectionist trade measures in future, Standard Chartered bank said Friday.

“The striking variations in projected food demand and in the capacity to increase output suggest that trade in food commodities will increase,” said the report. Countries heavily dependent on food imports will face heightened food security concerns, driving foreign investment in locations where agricultural land is underutilized - including Africa, said the bank.

“African countries are increasingly in the sights of foreign investors seeking new farmland - notably resource-constrained Middle Eastern and Asian countries,” said the report. According to the bank the Middle East and North Africa region will import 71% of its rice, 58% of its corn and 39% of its wheat needs in 2009. 

CME Group