Last Friday, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) announced that world food commodity prices reached their highest levels ever in March, as the war in the Black Sea region extended the shock to markets for basic cereals and vegetable oils.
The FAO Food Price Index averaged 159.3 points in March, up 12.6% from February, its highest level since its inception in 1990. The index tracks monthly changes in international prices of a basket of commonly traded food products.
The price of cereals and vegetable oils
World wheat prices soared by 19.7% in March. Meanwhile, corn prices recorded a month-on-month increase of 19.1%, reaching an all-time high along with barley and sorghum.
Furthermore, the FAO vegetable oil price index increased by 23.2%, driven by higher quotations for sunflower seed oil, of which Ukraine is the world’s leading exporter. As a result, palm, soybean and rapeseed oil prices also increased significantly.
Photo: FAO
