Food prices rise in September after two months of relative stability, FAO says

"Global food prices rose by 1.4 percent in September after holding steady for two months as cereals, meat and dairy prices climbed, the U.N. Food and Agricultural Organization [FAO] said Thursday," Agence France-Presse reports (10/4). "[T]he FAO Food Price Index, which measures monthly price changes for a food basket of cereals, oilseeds, dairy, meat and sugar, rose to an average of 216 points in September after remaining stable at 213 points in August, the FAO said in its monthly update," according to Reuters (Hornby, 10/4). "Abdolreza Abbassian, senior economist at the FAO, said that food prices were likely to remain high and volatility could increase," BBC News writes (10/4). Bloomberg Businessweek notes "[t]he U.S. State Department estimates that surging food prices triggered more than 60 riots worldwide from 2007 to 2009" (Ruitenberg, 10/4). "Despite the rise in food prices, the United States Mission to the U.N. Agencies in Rome released a statement on Thursday saying it had agreed with other countries that a meeting of the emergency Rapid Response Forum under the G20 agriculture body [Agricultural Market Information System (AMIS)] was not necessary at the moment," Reuters states (10/4).