First Wal-Mart announces they are to restrict rice sales to its customers in the US, then Starbucks’ shares plummet on the back of huge hikes in the price of coffee and the reluctance of US consumers to stump up cash for lattes in the midst of worsening economic conditions across the pond.

It would have been hard to imagine either of these occurrences just 12 months ago but, courtesy of ongoing global instability, neither story caused anything more seismic than a momentary lifting of eyebrows.

“Era of cheap food ends as prices surge”, The Times headlined screamed yesterday as - alongside the revelation that a cheese sandwich now cost 33 per cent more than during the equivalent period last year – it listed the acute shortages that are causing mayhem across the world.

Rice, wheat and vegetable oil are all in short supply, sending prices soaring and leading to food riots in countries such as Bangladesh and Egypt. With this unrest likely to spread, it’s far from inconceivable that trouble in the sourcing hotspots of India, China and Vietnam will follow – with potentially devastating effects for procurement.