Archive for the ‘Food’ Category
- In: $1 trillion | ' | Business | Food | imports | To | top
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Wheat prices have risen sharply in recent months
Record wheat production is expected in 2008, the FAO said.
The amount of money being spent globally on importing food is set to top $1 trillion (£528bn) in 2008, an influential report estimates.
Soaring food prices are the cause of the huge bill – likely to be up 26% on the 2007 total – said the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
The most economically vulnerable countries will bear the biggest burden, the report said, with costs rising 40%.
But the FAO said there were signs that some food prices were starting to fall.
However, it said prices were “unlikely” to return to the low levels of previous years – largely because of the higher costs associated with food production, primarily fuel.
The need to replenish stocks and the expected greater consumption – or utilisation – of crops, meant that demand would stay high, the report added.
“The most influential development in pushing up international prices of basic food has been the low level of exportable supplies resulting from utilization outstripping production for several crops in a number of major exporting countries.”
- In: $1 trillion | ' | Business | Food | imports | To | top
- Leave a Comment
Wheat prices have risen sharply in recent months
Record wheat production is expected in 2008, the FAO said.
The amount of money being spent globally on importing food is set to top $1 trillion (£528bn) in 2008, an influential report estimates.
Soaring food prices are the cause of the huge bill – likely to be up 26% on the 2007 total – said the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
The most economically vulnerable countries will bear the biggest burden, the report said, with costs rising 40%.
But the FAO said there were signs that some food prices were starting to fall.
However, it said prices were “unlikely” to return to the low levels of previous years – largely because of the higher costs associated with food production, primarily fuel.
The need to replenish stocks and the expected greater consumption – or utilisation – of crops, meant that demand would stay high, the report added.
“The most influential development in pushing up international prices of basic food has been the low level of exportable supplies resulting from utilization outstripping production for several crops in a number of major exporting countries.”
- In: 'staggering' | BBC NEWS | Food | on | scale | UK | waste
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People are needlessly throwing away 3.6m tonnes of food each year in England and Wales, research suggests.
The Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP) found that salad, fruit and bread were most commonly wasted and 60% of all dumped food was untouched.
The study analysed the waste disposed of by 2,138 households.
Environment Minister Joan Ruddock said the findings were “staggering” at a time of global food shortages and WRAP added it was an environmental issue.
‘Value of food’
The study found that £9bn of avoidable food waste was disposed of in England and Wales each year.
It is mostly food that could have been consumed if it had been better stored or managed, or had not been left uneaten on a plate.
Much of that food waste goes into landfill rather than into council food disposal and composting programmes, it said.
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 There are climate change costs to all of us of growing, processing, packaging, transporting, and refrigerating food that only ends up in the bin  Joan Ruddock, Environment Minister
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Based on the data for England and Wales, WRAP estimated that householders across the UK throw away £10.2bn of avoidable food waste every year.
Using the same extrapolation, they also estimated the average UK household needlessly throws away 18% of all food purchased. Families with children throw away 27%.
The study also suggested £1bn worth of food wasted in the UK was still “in date”.
Nearly a quarter, in terms of cost, was disposed of because the “use by” or “best before” date had expired.
Liz Goodwin, chief executive of WRAP, said food waste had “a significant environmental impact.
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“What shocked me the most was the cost of our food waste at a time of rising food bills, and generally a tighter pull on our purse strings,” Ms Goodwin said.
“It highlights that this is an economic and social issue, as well as about how much we understand the value of our food.”
Yoghurts and chickens
The study also found that:
- Bakery goods made up 19%, by weight, of all avoidable food waste. Vegetables contributed 18%.
- Meat and fish also made up a large proportion – 18% – of the total money wasted on food. WRAP said 5,500 whole chickens were thrown away each day in the UK.
- “Mixed foods” like ready meals made up 21% of the total cost of waste, with 440,000 thrown away each day.
- The two most significantly wasted foods that could have been eaten were potatoes and bread
- Yoghurt was a commonly abandoned product, with an estimated 1.3m unopened pots disposed of each day.
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