2-17 IAN Food Crisis

 Food commodity costs have been soaring, causing many countries to sound the alarm – some blaming upheavals in North Africa and the Middle East all on rising prices, but at least in one place - up to our north, the Canadians are taking it all in stride.  I’m David Sparks, and in a moment I’ll tell you why our Cascadian brothers aren’t the least bit bothered.

Canadians aren’t likely to see a spike in their daily food bills in the near term, as intense competition amongst retailers and a strong loonie will act as buffers against soaring global commodity prices, economists said. The United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization food price index hit a record high in January, triggering concern rising costs would spark social unrest in parts of the developing world. High food prices were one of the factors to trigger protests in Tunisia that led to the overthrow of the government.

The cost of corn has risen about 83% year-on-year, high-quality bread wheat is up 67% and soya beans are up 56%. Coffee, cattle and hog prices are also on the rise, while sugar has hit record highs.

One reason is there is less of a direct impact between food prices and raw commodity costs in developed countries such as Canada. Farm prices only make up about 20% of the price of the finished product, with marketing, packaging and transportation making up the rest.