G20 nations are taking stock of the third global food price surge in four years and will analyze USDA’s September 12 “World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates” (WASDE) report before deciding whether to take joint action on the issue of escalating food price increases, France’s farm minister told Reuters this week.

Senior  G20 officials held a conference call earlier this week on rising food prices after drought in the United States and poor crops from Russia and the Black Sea bread basket stirred new fears about food supply and inflation, the report noted. The decision to wait for the USDA report was made at a conference call between senior officials of France, the United States, and G20 president Mexico. Representatives from the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Bank were also on the call, according to Reuters.