Unilever warns of price rises as food costs soar

[CHIMO]

Unilever, the consumer goods firm whose brands include Flora and Persil, today warned that more price rises were on the horizon as it struggled to digest rocketing commodity prices.

Its chief executive, Paul Polman, said foods made with edible oils such as margarine and salad dressings would be hardest hit. The price of palm oil and sunflower oil has risen by 75% and 60% respectively in the last year.

Crude oil was also up 40%, he said, which pushed up the cost of bottling products such as Timotei shampoo or Domestos bleach. "We continue to live in volatile times but the business is in significantly better shape than it was two years ago," he said, blaming the poor harvests caused by flooding and other unforeseen weather events such as Cyclone Yasi.

His comments came as the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the UN said world food prices had surged to a record high in January, for the seventh consecutive month. Its food price index was up 3.4% from December to the highest level since the organisation started measuring food prices in 1990.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/feb/03/food-prices-new-record-high

[Warpy]

1. Be sure to thank your investment banks and happy hedge funds for it

because they're the ones driving commodities prices, not the law of supply and demand.

[girl gone mad]

3. We warned this would happen after the bailouts.

This is where much of the money is going, in case anyone wondered. It's not being lent to businesses or consumers, as was promised. Instead, banks are fueling various bubbles in emerging markets and commodities. So easy to see it coming.

[Po_d Mainiac]

7. That and the devalued US Dollartoiletpaper n/t

[grasswire]

4. and their shareholders n/t

[madrchsod]

2. 2009 us corn surplus was sold to china for fuel.

2010`s us corn surplus is basically zero

[Sherman A1]

5. I have heard several reports on the radio of late saying the

same thing. The era of cheap food is probably coming to an end.

[fasttense]

6. We had an era of cheap food?

Why didn't anyone tell me? We thought the continually climbing prices were pretty high. But now its over?

Fine by me. I grow food and this will merely raise my income.