Food prices to post biggest rise since 1990: USDA WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. consumers should brace for the biggest increase in food prices in nearly 20 years in 2008 and even more pain next year due to surging meat and produce prices, the Agriculture Department said on Wednesday. Food prices are forecast to rise by 5 percent to 6 percent this year, making it the largest annual increase since 1990. Just last month, USDA forecast food prices would climb between 4.5 and 5.5 percent in 2008. "It's a little bit of a surprise how strong some of the numbers were in July," USDA economist Ephraim Leibtag, who prepared the forecast, said in an interview. "We've been waiting for some moderation, but especially with some of the meat prices and how much has come through relatively recently (at the retail level) leads me

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Chart of the freakin' day ...You can see the original HERE.Gazprom expects oil to hit $250 a Barrel "in the foreseeable future". And at the same time, Citigroup boosted its 2008 Brent outlook 22 percent to $116.60 a barrel, while Merrill Lynch raised its forecast by 14 percent to $114. The International Energy Agency lowered its estimate for non-OPEC output this year by 300,000 barrels a day to 50.04 million, in its monthly report today. Saudi Arabia Calls for Summit on Energy Costs After a cabinet meeting led by King Abdullah, the Saudi government said, “the increase in prices isn’t justified in terms of market fundamentals,” according to a statement from the official Saudi Press Agency. No date was given for the energy summit. XX Sean's note -- talk is cheap.Bernanke Tries to Talk Up the Dollar, Vows Pigs Will Fly XX ...