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The West Australian (Perth)

October 20, 2007 Saturday
METRO
Food price to treble, warns CBH chief

JODIE THOMSON

The boss of WA grain handling and marketing giant CBH has added his voice to the growing chorus of warnings about food price spikes, predicting the cost of bread, milk and meat will treble within five years as a result of declining world grain stocks.

CBH chief executive Imre Mencshelyi said significant food price rises were inevitable as surging global demand for grain, driven by the biofuels industry, pushed world stocks to their lowest level in almost 30 years.

Rising global prices for wheat and barley would increase the cost of bread and cereals while eggs, meat and dairy products, which relied on grain as feed for stock, would also become more expensive.

Mr Mencshelyi said he would not be surprised to see milk reach $5 a litre within the next few years and WA customers would have to adapt to paying more for food.