World food price crisis

Global food prices rose in March, the first increase since July, pulled higher by cooking oil prices despite the cost of grains continuing to ease, the U.N.'s Food and Agricultural Organization has said.

The FAO's overall Food Price Index climbed 1.1 percent over the month to stand at 118.3 points in March 2024. On an annual comparison it was 7.7 percent lower.

For the second month in a row, the general price index headed higher. Inflation rose to 2.7% in August from 2.5% in July as food prices remained steep, fuel prices strengthened, while increases were recorded in a range of services including transport, dining and health.

Global rice prices reached a 15-year high in August after top exporter India banned some overseas sales of the grain, the Food and Agriculture Organization said on Sept. 8.

Only a decline in consumption, which could lead to an economic recession and signal the entry of the Greek economy into a new vicious cycle, can now lead to a reduction in food prices.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has called on the Western countries to take steps for meeting the expectations of Russia for the resumption of the grain deal and informed that Ankara is intensifying its contacts with Moscow.

The European Union is considering a proposal for the Russian Agricultural Bank to set up a subsidiary to reconnect to the global financial network as a sop to Moscow, the Financial Times said on Monday.

With the bank under sanctions, the move aims to safeguard the Black Sea grain deal that allows Ukraine to export food to global markets, the newspaper said.

A total of 32 million tons of grain has been transported through the grain corridor established in an effort to mitigate potential food crises arising from the Russia-Ukraine war, Transport and Infrastructure Minister Abdulkadir Uraloğlu has announced.

Two U.N. food agencies have issued stark warnings about multiple, looming food crises on the planet, driven by climate "shocks" like drought and worsened by the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine that have sent fuel and food prices soaring.

Food prices will increase by more than 50% until the new harvest, according to an economic analysis by the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. Experts suggest government aid to producers and low-income people.

World food prices hit an all-time high in March as Russia's invasion of breadbasket Ukraine has disrupted wheat and coarse grain exports, the United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organization said on April 8.

The FAO's food price index surged by 12.6 percent between February and March, "making a giant leap to a new highest level since its inception in 1990," said the FAO.