The Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce says recent crop reports are pointing to a run-up in food prices of about four per cent next year.
The bank's chief economist, Avery Shenfeld, said the drought in the U.S. has hit the corn and soybean crop hard and will translate into overall higher food prices next year.
But Shenfeld said the price shock likely won't be as bad as in 2008, partly because wheat in many affected areas had been harvested before the drought hit.
Still, he said consumers in both the U.S. and sa国际传媒 are likely to see food prices rise an average of about four per cent annualized sometime in 2013. That's about double the current rate of food inflation in sa国际传媒 as measured by Statistics sa国际传媒.
In 2008, food inflation in sa国际传媒 shot up as much as 7.9 per cent due to crop failures in parts of the world.
