[Economics] World food prices falling, and other economy stories you need to read this week

[Douma]

World food prices fell in January for a 10th consecutive month, and are now down 18% from the record high they hit last March following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the United Nations food agency says. However, there are warnings that dozens of countries are still experiencing double-digit food inflation, leading to rising food insecurity and undernourishment.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO) price index, which tracks the most globally traded food commodities, averaged 131.2 points last month against 132.2 for December, putting it at its lowest since September 2021. Falls in the prices of vegetable oils, dairy and sugar helped pull down the index, while cereals and meat remained largely stable, the FAO said. The decline was helped in by an agreement in July to unblock Ukraine's grain exports, the UN says.

But the head of the FAO has issued a joint statement with the heads of the World Trade Organization (WTO), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank Group and UN World Food Programme saying that the world is still facing an unprecedented food and nutrition security crisis, and there needs to be an urgent response. They are calling for countries to avoid policies such as export restrictions, support trade facilitation measures to improve availability of food and fertilizer, and back trade finance initiatives.

Rising food prices have been one of the biggest contributors to inflation over the past year. The IMF says that average food price inflation since the start of 2021 exceeded the overall average rate of inflation for 2016-2020. "In other words, food inflation alone has eroded global living standards at the same rate as inflation of all consumption did in the five years immediately before the pandemic."

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2023/02/world-food-prices-falling-economy-stories-you-need-to-read-february-2023/