United Nations Radio

The Food and Agriculture Organization in its latest Food Outlook reports that due to good harvests expected this year, the prices of basic food commodities are expected to stabilize.

According to FAO prices of agricultural commodities increased by an average of 50 percent over the past year. FAO's Assistant Director-General Hafez Ghanem says food-importing countries still remain to grapple with a 40% increase in their food bills.

"We expect cereal production to increase by about 4%. This should help maintain prices or avoid further increases in prices, and we could even see some declines. However, we do not expect to see prices go back to their previous levels, because there are some fundamental changes in the market."

Among the factors driving up food prices, Mr. Ghanem mentions increased demand due to population growth, changing diets in prosperous developing countries, and use of land for biofuels, as well as historically low stocks of food.

Reporting for UN Radio, I'm Bissera Kostova.

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