G20 to consider action on food prices next month

Group of 20 nations will decide next month whether to take joint action on soaring global grains prices, Russia said on Thursday, but analysts doubted they can cool markets which are close to levels that provoked food riots four years ago.

A charity demanded urgent action to protect the world's hungry as harvests fall short of needs for the coming year, and the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) called on nations to calm markets, although it played down talk of a new crisis.