Global Food Fight Stokes Inflation, Despite Slowdown

Thursday, Jan. 17, 2008 3:59 p.m. EST

Your morning bowl of cereal and cup of coffee are now costing you more than ever.
Unless you bought gold several years ago and hoarded it, you may not be happy at your increasingly expensive breakfasts.

Not only has the cost of a gallon of milk increased rapidly, so has corn, cocoa and tons of other commodities as demand continues to rise globally. The future prices of crude oil, gold, silver, corn, cocoa – even cattle (which must be fed) are reaching or getting close to record prices.

Just in 2007, the price of soybeans and wheat increased by 70 percent while copper tripled and zinc doubled.

Some economists are predicting that a surge in prices will continue as demand pushes on globally.
"It is absolutely a fundamental change in the global economic structure,â€