The top OPEC oil exporter, which suffered like other Gulf Arab states in 2008 when international food prices rose, said this week it would boost wheat reserves to cover its needs for a year instead of six months following a call by its quasi-Parliament, the Shoura Council.

Executives and officials at the chamber of commerce said Saudi Arabia needed to build reserves in foods such as wheat and eight other commodities as a buffer against rising global prices.

Top government officials will address the issue on Sunday at a conference hosted by the food security committee of the Riyadh chamber of commerce. The head of the grains authority as well as trade and agricultural ministers will attend, according to the invitation.

The United Nations’ food agency (FAO) said earlier this month that food prices had hit a record high last month above 2008 levels.

Saudi Arabia’s annual inflation eased in December to 5.4 percent — well below record the record of 11.1 percent in July 2008 — but rising global prices will keep inflation above average historic levels, economists say.

“Food inflation in Saudi could remain in the high single digits,” said Banque Saudi Fransi chief economist John Sfakianakis.

The Kingdom has become a major buyer of wheat and other commodities to cover food needs as the population grows, the economy attracts more expatriates and it piles up reserves.

Saudi Arabia’s current wheat reserves stand at 1.4 million tones plus a supply of 700,000 tones by April, the grains authority said this week.

“Food reserves could provide some short-term solutions, but long-term ones will be provided when there is progress with farmland investment plans abroad,” said Sfakianakis.

Apart from building up reserves, Saudi Arabia has been trying to secure farmland in Africa. It ended its wheat cultivation program three years ago due to dwindling water resources.

The government has urged companies to invest in farm projects abroad, but diplomats say progress has been slow over ownership rights to farmland.