White House sees food prices high for 2-3 years

By Missy Ryan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - High global food prices are likely to linger for two to three years while the world replenishes food stocks, senior White House officials said on Tuesday.

"Our estimate is that those prices will continue to stay high, not escalate at the same rate as they did last year," Edward Lazear, chairman of President George W. Bush's Council of Economic Advisors, said in an interview.

"Inventories have been depleted and it will take a while to rebuild those inventories, so those prices will stay high," likely for two to three years, he said.

Disappointing harvests, surging demand in developing countries like China and other factors have sent global commodity and food prices sky-rocketing over last year.

Biofuel production is widely seen as another driver in higher food prices, which jumped 43 percent in the year through March. The White House experts underscored that they did not think alternative fuels like ethanol truly play a big role in higher food costs.

"Those who are arguing that the president's increase in the (renewable fuels standard) is contributing to high food prices are incorrect," Keith Hennessey, director of the National Economic Council, said in the same interview.

The White House, embracing biofuels as an alternative to foreign oil, contends that ethanol use accounts for only up to 3 percent of the overall increase in global food prices.

Others, including the American Farm Bureau Federation, believe that it accounts for up to 30 percent of the surge.