Global food prices jumped to a new record high of nearly 13 per cent in March as the war caused turmoil in markets for staple grains and edible oils, the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (UN FAO) published on April 8 said.
FAO's food price index, which tracks the most globally traded food commodities, averaged 159.3 points in March vis-a-vis 141.4 in February. Disruption to supplies of crops from the Black Sea region has exacerbated price rises in food commodities, which were already running at 10-year highs in the FAO's index before the war in Ukraine due to global harvest issues.
On cereal supply and demand estimates, the FAO cut its projection of world wheat production in 2022 to 784 million tonnes, from 790 million last month, as it factored in the possibility that at least 20 pc of Ukraine's winter crop area would not be harvested. Over the past three years, Russia and Ukraine combined, accounted for around 30 pc and 20 pc of global wheat and maize exports, respectively.
( With inputs from ANI )
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