Is there a global crisis unravelling? World food reserves are at their lowest in 25 years and the prices of most food crops are at a record high. This is causing inflation in several countries from Egypt to China--even riots in Mexico and western Africa. Governments are in a tizzy; they are either lifting bans on import of cereals or imposing restrictions on exports. Bangladesh suspended the 5 per cent duty on wheat import. Kazakhstan announced export tariffs. India imposed a partial ban on rice export and dramatically lowered the import duties on key food items. If the current situation is grim, the future scenario is not rosy either. Global cereal prices are expected to remain high in 2008 mainly because of drought-like conditions in major cereal exporting countries and low world stocks, warns the latest Food Outlook report of the Food and Agriculture Organization (fao). It is even feared that this price rise is not a passing phenomenon. Climate change and the shift to growing food crops for biofuels would make world hunger more torturous. fao predicts that because of record freight rates and high export prices, many countries will have to pay more for importing cereals from world markets than they did in previous years, even though they are expected to import less. The world food supply is vulnerable. savvy soumya misra takes a look at the crisis, its causes and implications for India.