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Rabat – Food prices around the world are breaking records, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has warned. The UN agency records global food prices in its FAO Food Price Index (FFPI) which is up by nearly a third compared to the same month in 2020.
Rising prices of vital food stuffs such as cereals and vegetable oil for cooking are pushing up global averages as the price for cereals has increased by 27.3% and vegetable oil is up 60% compared to prices in September 2020.
Cereal production reached a world record in 2021 yet is still seeing a significant rise in prices, while vegetable oil prices are rising due to labor shortages in Malaysian palm oil plantations, according to the FAO.
Adjusted for inflation, food prices are currently at levels not seen since record keeping began in 1961, with the exception of crisis-years 1974 and 1975 when another oil price crisis drove prices up. Fuel prices are crucial to both the production and transport of food products, linking the prices of the commodities.
The current high prices for cereal, despite record harvests, paint a difficult picture for the future in which humanity will need to both increase its agricultural production while reducing emissions from greenhouse gasses.
Following a disastrous economic year caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the world economy is still processing both the shock of the event and the impact it has had on labor across the world. Shortages in vital jobs suchs as truck drivers, dock workers and seafaring ship operators are having a major impact on economies big and small.
Meanwhile an increasingly global energy crunch is causing a run on all forms of fossil fuels, with gas seeing the largest price increases. As gas prices rise, oil and even coal are again becoming options for countries eager to keep the lights on and heating running in what is set to be a cold winter in the global north.
