India wants inflation down, pushes food prices up

New Delhi: The Indian Government may be trying to douse inflation by cutting duties but its efforts are, in part, pushing up global food prices.

While record food and fuel prices are stoking global inflation, forcing governments from China to India to take measures to protect supplies, it is also brining down the supply of food grains in the global markets.

For example, rice, the staple food for about three billion people worldwide, has doubled in the past year and crude oil, soybeans and wheat reached their highest ever.

The rally in food prices is being driven by the rally in the commodities market. Investors have been buying agricultural commodities on concern of falling stock of global food grains which are already at their lowest in the last 26 years.

The United Nations warned in February that 36 countries, including China, face food emergencies this year, as stockpiles of grains such as rice drop to a 26-year low.