Courtesy of Michael Panzner of Financial Armageddon
What’s this — CNBC is reporting bad news?
Global food prices rose in December, with the FAO Food Price Index at a record high, the U.N Food and Agriculture Organisation said on Wednesday, past 2008 highs when rising food prices sparked riots in a number of countries.
Up for the sixth month in a row and fuelled by surging sugar prices and rises in cereals and oils, the index was the highest since records began in 1990, in nominal terms, and topped the high of 213.5 in June 2008, during the food crisis of 2007/08.
The index, which measures monthly price changes for a food basket composed of cereals, oilseeds, dairy, meat and sugar, averaged 214.7 points last month, up from 206.0 points in November.
Of course, we should all remember what happened the last time that food prices reached such lofty levels:
