Food: Why We Have It Better

The price of food in the US rose 1.8% over past year which somewhat high as it may sound, is relatively little compared to the rising costs of food around the world. To offer a very basic explanation for this discrepancy, let’s look at where the cost of say bread comes from. In the developed world, very little (well under 10%) of the cost of bread comes from the wheat needed to make it. The rest of the price is a result of manufacturing and labor. In poorer or growing countries on the other hand, as much as 70% of the price of bread comes from wheat. So the real problem of skyrocketing wheat and corn prices, are the reason that countries like the United States face much lower price hikes than do less developed regions of the world.