Group Warns Of Drop In Grain Stockpile

World grain stocks will dip to the lowest level in 20 years, leaving a record low 53-day supply next year and threatening rising food prices around the globe, Worldwatch Institute predicted Friday.

Lester R. Brown, president of the independent environmental research group, predicted a decline to 258 million tons, from this year’s 294 million.

The tight grain carryovers, he said, will likely lead to worldwide increases in the price of bread, rice and breakfast cereal by the end of 1995 and in grain-produced livestock products such as beef, poultry, pork, eggs, milk and cheese early next year.

China, with a fifth of the world’s people, has recently become a net importer of grain, Brown said, adding significantly to the decreasing stocks and increasing prices.