UN meeting on food prices seeks transparency

[September 25, 2010]  ROME (AP) -- Delegates at a special U.N. meeting prompted by worries over high food prices were discussing Friday a grain export ban by Russia and its impact on cereal markets.

Russian grain company executives and government officials were among those attending the one-day meeting at the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization to examine the role of market information and transparency for crops such as grains and rice.

Riots recently erupted in Mozambique over high food prices. But U.N. officials stress the situation is nowhere near the emergency crisis in 2007-2008.

"What we have seen over the past few weeks is a period of volatility driven partly by the announcement from Russia of an export ban on grain food until next year, and this has driven prices up," said Gregory Barrow of the U.N. World Food Program. "They have fallen back again, but this has had an impact,"

Russia is one of the world's largest wheat exporters. But a very hot, dry summer was blamed for Russia's wheat harvest shortfall, which led Moscow to ban grain exports.

Sergei Sukhov, from Russia's agriculture ministry, said during a break in the meeting in Rome that the market for grains "should be stable and predictable for all participants." He said no efforts should be spared "to the effect that the production of food be sufficient."

[Associated Press]

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