The emergency meeting of the heads of 150 countries in Rome has lost its steam with many of them, including India, opting to send senior ministers instead. The reason: countries like India have harvested a record wheat grain production of 76.8 million tonne, that has dramatically cooled off the spectre of food riots painted by several global agencies. Instead, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) now expects a sharp spike in food grain production in key producing nations.
In February, FAO director general Jacques Diouf had warned world leaders that food riots that gripped African nations like Sierra Leone, Egypt and Cameroon could spread to more areas, including Asia if prices don?t come down fast enough.
Thankfully, by FAO?s own admission wheat prices in mid-May dropped by 50% from their peaks in late February to a more manageable $382 per tonnes.
Experts said global wheat prices have subsided and might continue to remain weak as production could rise across the world and reach an all-time high of 658 million tonne in 2008, up 8.7 million from last year.
Prices have subsided also because India, the world?s second largest grower, is tipped to harvest a record 77 million tonne wheat this year, making it virtually absent from the import market after two years.
