Featured image: Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) logo. Photo: www.fao.org
FAO’s Food Price Index has recorded a jump in March amid the Ukraine crisis and the post-COVID recovery.
On Friday, April 8, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations reported that global prices of food commodities such as wheat, corn and vegetable oils have jumped to record highs in March, as a result of the Ukraine crisis which has shocked the world’s commodity markets.
“In March 2022, the FAO Food Price Index (FPI) has averaged 159.3 points; this is 17.9 points or 12.6% higher than its February values,” reads the FAO statement. “As a result of this unprecedented increase, prices have reached their highest levels in the history of the FPI since its creation in 1990.”
According to FAO, this is due to a record increase in the prices of vegetable oils, cereals and meat, as well as a significant increase in the cost of sugar and dairy products.
From February onwards, the Vegetable Oil Price Index had a 23.2% rise, that is, a rise of 46.9 points compared to the previous level of 248.6 points. Thus, the prices of sunflower, palm, soybean and rapeseed oils have risen.
Dairy products have also become more expensive. Their price index rose 2.6%, 3.7 points, raising the price to 145.2 points in March. This index has risen for the seventh consecutive month. The prices of powdered milk and butter were the ones that increased the most.
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The grain price index jumped 24.9 points in March, or 17.1%, to reach 170.1 points. The prices that increased the most were wheat (19.7%) and fodder grains (20.4%). This is mainly due to conflict-induced disruptions to exports from Ukraine and, to a lesser extent, Russia.
Meat has risen in price to a record 120 points. March saw the fastest monthly growth in pork prices since 1995, which is explained by the reduction of livestock in Western Europe and a strong increase in domestic demand just before Easter.
In March the sugar price index reached 117.9 points, corresponding to an increase of 7.4 points or 6.7%. The increase in prices of all food items is also considered to be associated with a sharp increase in global crude oil prices, and it is expected that in the upcoming season, Brazil’s use of sugarcane for ethanol production will increase.
Featured image: Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) logo. Photo: www.fao.org
(Ăšltimas Noticias) by Odry Farnetano
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/GMS/SC
