Food prices are up, but the global economy — rather than a lack of rain in the U.S. Corn Belt — are likely to blame, a U.S. food marketing expert says.
John Stanton, professor of food marketing at Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, says increasing global demand for crops such as corn is putting pressure on U.S. food prices. "Price increases from the droughts are likely to have short-term effects, but global issues can have a longer and greater impact," Stanton said in a news release.
"The biggest cost in a box of corn flakes isn’t the corn," he said. "It’s everything from the price of oil to transport the product to the marketing and the packaging. So something like the cost of oil will have a much more lasting effect on the price of your cereal than the supply of crops." Read More