Consumers could face higher food prices as extreme weather caused by climate change affects major crops worldwide, according to a new Oxfam report.
The charity claims the full impact of climate change on future food prices is being underestimated and warns consumers will become more vulnerable to events such as the current US drought as dependence on exports of wheat and maize increases.
The report, Extreme Weather, Extreme Prices, says a US drought in 2030 could raise the price of maize by as much as 140% over and above the average price of food, which is already likely to be double today's prices.
Drought and flooding in southern Africa could increase the consumer price of maize and other coarse grains by as much as 120% by 2030, the reports says, while nationwide drought in India or extensive flooding across Southeast Asia could see the world market price of rice increase by 22%.
The report warns such rises would affect UK consumers, who are already facing high food prices without the full weight of extreme weather events and climate change.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article