6 Food Stocks That Could Rise

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Dole Food Company (DOLE), Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (GMCR) and Fresh Del Monte Produce (FDP) are among food-related stocks that could see significant gains in the next year, according to analysts.

Although most asset classes got hammered during the recent market slump, the majority of contracts on grains and soft commodities on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange held firm, clearly indicating that this commodity sector is structurally sound and could remain firm in the long term, driven by demand from emerging markets.

Analysts at Goldman Sachs recently upgraded their forecasts for CME crop futures, saying that they expect agricultural prices to outperform the rest of the commodity complex.

Meanwhile, corn prices have more than doubled in a year, while wheat increased greater than 70%. Coffee and sugar prices soared more than 50%. Industry analysts believe that the current scenario is fueling the early stages of a soft commodity supercycle, fed by growing demand from the emerging markets.

As per the International Coffee Organization (ICO), world coffee production in the current 2010/2011 crop year reached 133.3 million bags, increasing 8.2% from the prior crop year. Although top producer Brazil estimates a decline in its coffee output, the ICO believes that the impact of the decline in Brazilian production would be offset by Colombian output, after two crop years of low production.

We have selected six soft commodity-related stocks that could rise from 6.6% to 41%, based on average 12-month price targets of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

We have listed the stocks in ascending order of potential upside, based on analysts' price targets.

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