Below is the monthly chart of the food price index (based on IMF data) going back 10 years.
According to Moody's, the average increase in the World Bank's commodity food price index for emerging countries was 3% year-over-year in the past 12 months, when India's index of wholesale food prices rose 10%.
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations reported that their food price index averaged 232 points in April, flat from March and 2.6% below its all-time high February level of 237.2.
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But with the FAO's food price index at its highest levels since the organisation began measuring food prices in 1990, clearly more needs to be done to boost the yields and incomes of women farmers.
For example, the chart below shows how the food and non-food consumer price index (CPI) have declined on a year-over-year basis over the past several months.
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Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) in January reported its food-price index was up 32% in the second half of 2010, surpassing the previous record of June 2008.
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The WSJ fails to note the impact of higher energy prices on food prices: A 2007 study by John Urbanchuk at LECG suggests increases in petroleum prices have two to three times the impact that increases in corn prices have on the food Consumer Price Index alone.
President Obama has proposed replacing the regular consumer price index, or CPI, to adjust Social Security benefits with the chained CPI -- often called the cat food CPI because the index assumes that when the price of human food rises, seniors can substitute cheaper food to get the same nutrition.
This new price index excludes food, energy, and everything that went up in price that month.
The BoJ's own recent forecasts predicted that the year-on-year change in the consumer price index excluding fresh food would be negative this year, next year and in 2011.
The core PCE price index, which excludes food and energy prices, increased one point more than it did in April, moving up 0.3%.
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By controlling for individual and environmental influences on weight, such as income and health, they then measure whether food-price changes affect body-mass index (BMI).
Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke warned on Wednesday the economy remained at risk, but he also cautioned that inflation had risen and was being watched closely by the central bank. (See: "Ben Bernanke: No Surprises") The personal consumption expenditures price index, which excludes food and energy, was left unrevised at an annual 2.7% rate in the fourth quarter, matching forecasts and following 2.0% in the previous three months.
When you look at the Consumer Price Index, perhaps 20 percent is tied to oil and food so the inflation in the index must work higher.
The core Consumer Price Index, excluding the volatile food and energy sectors, rose 0.3% in June for the second straight month.
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Inflation as measured by the consumer price index (CPI) excluding food and energy rose 0.6% over the 12 months to October, recording the smallest 12-month increase since the index came into existence in 1957.
The rise in Japan's core consumer price index in April, which excludes food prices, was largely in line with expectations.
Another measure of core inflation that we monitor closely, based on the price index for personal consumption expenditures excluding food and energy, shows a similar pattern.
Food prices, which make up most of the consumer price index, rose 10.61% on year in April, while fuel prices rose 8.10%, the data showed.
The Labor Department said that the core producer price index for wholesale prices on goods excluding food and energy rose 0.5% in January, up from a 0.2% increase in December.
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Lu suggested the government adjust the basic living allowance and food subsidies for university students every three months according to changes in the consumer price index.
Andy Rothman , the China Macro Strategist for CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets, believes that China is near the peak in food-price inflation and close to the peak in the overall rise in the Consumer Price Index for this cycle.
Even as Beijing has tried to ratchet back on its stimulus efforts, China's consumer-price index rose by 4.4% in October from a year earlier and food prices surged 10.1%.
Figures from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics show that the Consumer Price Index stood at 2.9% at the end of September, net of the volatile food and energy markets.
In November, the consumer price index fell unexpectedly by 0.2%, while the core CPI, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, fell 0.1%--indicating that inflation levels are at a 38-year low.
The consumer price index for January was unchanged on the month, but increased by 0.3% excluding volatile food and energy costs.
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