Food prices to remain high: Study

The prices of essential agricultural products will remain at very high levels over the next decade, even if they are expected to gradually come down from the peaks that have led to food riots across Africa, the Caribbean and Asia, a new report has said.

"Whether we are talking of the price of rice, maize or wheat", staple food prices have recently broken records, but "this situation will not last", the joint study by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said.

The "spectacular" increase in prices that has been observed since 2005/06 stems mainly from poor weather in major grain producing regions, "scarce" global stocks, and the switch to biofuels, the report said.