Given the importance of the topic, not only to Mexico but at the global level, and the quality and experience of our speakers, I have no doubt that this session will be of great interest to all of us. After having shown a pronounced decline for several decades, international food prices started to increase at the beginning of this century, abruptly spiking in 2007–2008.
Prices for these products fell at the end of 2008 within the context of the global economic crisis, but rose again to hit levels in 2011 that were even higher than those posted before the crisis. Although in the wake of this spike food prices have diminished, they still remain at very high levels.