What is happening with food and fuel prices in developing countries?
. A world-wide commodity price boom picked up pace in 2007, notwithstanding financial market turmoil and slowing growth in major economies: • Food prices have risen by 45 percent since end-2006, mirroring earlier price run-ups in other commodities (Source: IMF Commodity Price Index). • Many prices reached record highs in current US$ termsincluding those for crude oil, tin, nickel, soybeans, corn, and wheat. The surge was led by some major food crops (corn, wheat, and edible oil), but has spread to other foods including, most recently, rice. However, in real terms, prices of many commodities, particularly foods, remain well below their highs in the 1970s and early 1980s, with the main exceptions of crude oil, lead, and nickel.
