China drives up global food prices

Global prices for food rose in January for the eighth month in a row. Greater demand from China also led to rising prices for corn and dairy products, the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) said. The price of corn rose by an average of 11.2 percent on the world market in January, according to the FAO. Compared to the same month last year, the price rose by 42.3 percent. This reflects the increasingly tight global corn supply in the face of significant purchases by China and lower-than-expected production and storage estimates from the US, the organization said.