World food prices may hit record high in 2013: Rabobank study

It added that governments' interventions to check high food prices by way of export bans and commodity stockpiling could exacerbate commodity price volatility.

"Skyrocketing agri-commodity prices are causing the world to re-enter a period of "agflation", with food prices forecast to reach record highs in 2013 and to continue to rise well into Q3 of the 2013," Netherlands-based Rabobank said.

Also, the Food Price Index of UN body FAO is expected to rise by 15 per cent by the end of June 2013, it said in the report, adding that world food prices are rising once again as drought in the US, South America and Russia have diminished

crop prospects and tightened already low inventory levels.

As a result of drought in key exporting countries and rapid demand growth in developing countries, the combined global wheat, rice, corn and soyabean stocks-to-use is expected to fall to 19.6 per cent in 2012-13, only 0.4 per cent above 2007-08 levels, it added.

ccording to the Rabobank, "This time around, the most affected commodities are largely used in animal feed (like corn and soyabean) and are not core food staples (such as wheat and rice) of the world's developing economies."

Unlike the staple grain shortage seen in 2008, this year's scarcity will affect feed intensive crops with serious repercussions for animal protein and dairy industries, it said.

The report "Re-entering Agflation", prepared

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