Price shock at the market

World food prices jumped to a record in December, according to data from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, and prices are likely to keep rising.

RECORD FOOD PRICES,  (Jan 05, 2011) - Shoppers around the world are finding it's getting a lot harder to fill their baskets at the market.

That's because the price of food - including sugar, cereals, diary, and meat hit an all-time high in December, according to records being kept by the United Nation's food program since 1990.

And that pain at the cash register is likely to get more intense, warns Abdolreza Abbassian, economist at the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.ABDOLREZA ABBASSIAN, ECONOMIST, UNITED NATIONS FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION  SAYING:

"So this is really the concern we have here, that people look at the past and they say, well in the past prices rose very fast and they came down very fast, even in 2007/8. Well situations have changed, the supply and demand structures have changed. And certainly the kind of weather developments we have seen makes us worry a little bit more, that it may last much much longer and are we prepared for it, really this is the question."

The global price for food now tops what is was in 2008 - when high food costs sparked riots and demonstrations in some parts of the world.

And there are signs tensions are once again rising. The escalating price of bread recently caused this scuffle at a market in Bolivia - a scenario that could play out elsewhere as prices continue to rise.

Conway Gittens, Reuters