Global food prices hold near record in April 2022 as Russia’s war in Ukraine upends trade
Global food prices held near a record as crop trade is disrupted by the war in Ukraine, exacerbating tight supplies and stoking inflation. In April 2022, world food commodity prices slightly decreased after the all-time high reached in March 2022, led by modest declines in the prices for vegetable oils and cereals, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) reported.
Russia’s invasion has reduced exports from Ukraine to a trickle, curbing supplies from one of the world’s biggest grain and vegetable oil shippers. That is sent buyers flocking elsewhere, while some nations are moving to restrict sales as they worry about depleting local reserves. High fertilizer prices and weather worries add to the threats to global crop supplies, including drought curbing the U.S. wheat crop. That risks compounding a deepening hunger crisis.
“The small decrease in the FAO Food Price Index is a welcome relief, particularly for low-income food-deficit countries, but still food prices remain close to their recent highs, reflecting persistent market tightness and posing a challenge to global food security for the most vulnerable,” said FAO Chief Economist Máximo Torero Cullen.
