Global Food Prices Hit Record High In 2022

Reuters: World food prices hit record high in 2022 

PARIS (Reuters) -A surge in the cost of most food commodities last year, as the disruption caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine raised concerns of shortages, sent the U.N. food agency's average price index to the highest level on record. 

The Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO) food price index, which tracks international prices of the most globally traded food commodities, averaged 143.7 points in 2022, up 14.3% from 2021, and the highest since records started in 1990, the agency said on Friday. 

The index had already gained 28% in 2021 from the previous year as the world economy recovered from the impact of the pandemic.  

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Update #1: Record food prices in 2022 due to Ukraine war and drought (Euronews/AP)  

Update #2: Food prices hit record high in 2022 — driving inflation amid war, drought (NYPost)  

WNU Editor: Even higher prices are expected in 2023 .... Global economy 2023: why there will still be plenty of pressure on food prices in the year ahead (The Conversation).

World Food Inflation Pushing Millions More Into Poverty

The new arms race is food and energy, says Superfund Financial, in a report that predicts coffee, sugar and cocoa prices will rise up to tenfold by 2014 because of shortages. Reuters

Soaring Food Costs Pushing Millions Into Poverty -- NPR/AP

Soaring food and energy prices, still-fragile financial systems and continued tensions between the United States and China over trade and currency issues will all be on the agenda at meetings over the next three days of global finance officials.

World Bank President Robert Zoellick said Thursday that food prices are 36 percent higher than they were a year ago and already have pushed 44 million people into poverty. He called on major countries to do more to help poor countries meet the challenge of feeding their populations at a time of surging prices.

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My Comment: With wars and revolutions becoming the norm in regions like Africa and the Middle East .... having the necessary social stability to grow food crops is going to become harder and harder in these regions as this unrest continues. But the biggest impact will probably come from Japan's hungry consumers, who will now favor eating foodstuffs grown from outside of Japan in order to allay their fears of radiation poisoning .... hence driving the demand and price of basic foods.

Food Prices To Stay High Despite Record Crops, Says UN

An ominous warning from the U.N.

From The Guardian:

World food prices are likely to stay high and volatile for the foreseeable future despite some record crops this year, according to a report published today by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).

The crisis has driven up food import bills around the world, which are expected to total more than one trillion US dollars in 2008, $215bn (£108bn) more than last year. The poorest and most vulnerable countries will be the hardest hit. The FAO report said their collective food import bill is expected to rise to $169bn this year, up 40% from 2007.

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News On World Food Prices From Other Sources
UN says world food prices to remain high -- CANOE Money
Don’t Blame Bio-fuels For Everything -- Ecofriendly
World food crisis --Rice price jumps in France -- A Video Report
The silent tsunami -- A Commentary
Déjà chew: The food price crisis in context -- The Ethicurean
Today's Food Crisis Isn't A Blip -- Accountability Central
Higher food prices to plague world in next decade -- Reuters
Stubbornly high food prices threaten worse hunger -- Reuters
U.N.: Poor countries could pay 40 percent more for food -- CNN


My Comment: The post from the Ethicurean is well worth reading. It provides a historical context to todays crisis. Like the food crisis and famines of the early 1970s, the world is unfortunately badly positioned to overcome the problems that we are now facing. Peace and food usually walk hand to hand. If the world starts to go hungry .... and it is .... those hands start to slip.

Higher Food Prices, Riots, Shortages - What Is Going On?

A must read piece from Fabius Maximus:

Summary: Many factors are driving up food prices, but the elephant in the room is global inflation. This explains why prices are rising throughout the entire commodity complex (energy, industrial materials, precious metals, agriculture). Plus brief discussions of biofuels, long cycles of food prices, the role of government policy, and the likelihood of resource wars.

“Global Market Brief: Food Cost Crises”, Stratfor (13 March 2008) — Opening:

Global wheat prices rose by 83 percent at the outset of 2008 compared to 2007 prices. Soybean prices hit an all-time high of $14.22 a bushel in February, while corn prices rose to a 12-year high of $5.25 a bushel. The U.S. Department of Agriculture reports that global grain reserves have plummeted to the lowest level since 1960. Prices likely will not fall for some time; as a matter of fact, the International Food Policy Research Institute predicts that global cereal prices will be 10 to 20 percent higher by 2015.

I agree. We part company when it comes to the causes. (Bold emphasis added)

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Update: Now It’s the $6 Loaf of Bread -- Newsweek

My Comment: Food, like energy, have always been strongly influenced by government policies. When times get rough .... governments have always implemented policies to enhance and/or super cede their past policies. In almost all cases this has always resulted in more shortages and higher prices. Will food become more expensive ... yes. If history is any indication, as long as food policy is dictated by government fiat and regulation, the price for food will always increase.