Zurich, June 21 - Food prices will stay high although some of the rise in raw materials costs is due to speculation, Nestle chief executive Paul Bulcke said in a newspaper interview published on Saturday.
"In the longer run they (prices) can not be on a level nobody wants to produce on," the CEO of the world's largest food company told Swiss daily Neue Zuercher Zeitung.
Some of the price explosion was due to "speculation, panic", Bulcke said. "But the previous level will not be reached again: that would not be healthy."
"However, there is sufficient technological leeway to feed the world," he said.
Soaring food prices have sent inflation spiralling globally and sparked protests in many countries.
Bulcke said higher demand, supply shortages, misguided agricultural policies, bio fuels and speculation were all driving prices up. "That all came at once and caused a veritable storm," he said.