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Prices of agricultural products are expected to keep on rising due to growing global consumption, Brazil's Agriculture Minister Reinhold Stephanes said on Friday.
The Brazilian minister's comments were made amid growing concerns over price hikes of basic agricultural products, which may bring catastrophic consequences to poor countries.
Stephanes said almost all stocks in the world are below half of their maximum level, and that some countries started consuming food products that they did not traditionally consume.
"The world is growing, developing and people are earning more and consuming more," he said.
According to the minister, countries that used to eat little meat are currently meat importers, which is leading prices to rise, and the tendency is continuing.
In the 2006-2007 period, prices paid by developing countries for cereals had increased by 37 percent.
The price rises, according to Food and Agriculture Organization(FAO), have triggered crises in 37 countries, especially in Africa. |
