Food prices

Food prices refer to the average price level for food across countries, regions and on a global scale.^[1] Food prices affect producers and consumers of food. Price levels depend on the food production process, including food marketing and food distribution. Fluctuation in food prices is determined by a number of compounding factors.^[2] Geopolitical events, global demand, exchange rates,^[3] government policy, diseases and crop yield, energy costs, availability of natural resources for agriculture,^[4] food speculation,^[5][6][7] changes in the use of soil and weather events directly affect food prices.^[8] To a certain extent, adverse price trends can be counteracted by food politics.

The consequences of food price fluctuation are multiple. Increases in food prices, or agflation, endangers food security, particularly for developing countries, and can cause social unrest.^[9][10][11] Increases in food prices is related to disparities in diet quality and health,^[12] particularly among vulnerable populations, such as women and children.^[13]

Food prices will on average continue to rise due to a variety of reasons. Growing world population will put more pressure on the supply and demand. Climate change will increase extreme weather events, including droughts, storms and heavy rain, and overall increases in temperature will affect food production.^[14]

An intervention to reduce food loss or waste, if sufficiently large, will affect prices upstream and downstream in the supply chain relative to where the intervention occurred.^[15] "The CPI (Consumer Price Index) for all food increased 0.8% from July 2022 to August 2022, and food prices were 11.4% higher than in August 2021."^[16]