The price explosion has nothng to do with a shortage in grain. After the quasi-collapse of the US financial markets, international ivnestors floated a considerable part of their funds in raw material- and food branches.
World Food Crisis Threatens Rich Nations (That's Us), Too (tags)
Unless we act fast for a global consensus on the price spiral, the social unrest induced by food prices in several countries will conflagrate into a price contagion, leaving no country-developed or otherwise-unscathed.