Food prices

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Food Price Index 1961–2021 in nominal and real terms. The Real Price Index is the Nominal Price Index deflated by the World Bank Manufactures Unit Value Index (MUV). Years 2014–2016 is 100.

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]

  1. ^ Roser, Max; Ritchie, Hannah (2013-10-08). "Food Prices". Our World in Data.
  2. ^ Amadeo, Kimberly. "5 Causes of High Food Prices". The Balance. Retrieved 2020-09-19.
  3. ^ Abbott, Philip C.; Hurt, Christopher; Tyner, Wallace E., eds. (2008). What's Driving Food Prices?. Issue Report.
  4. ^ Savary, Serge; Ficke, Andrea; Aubertot, Jean-Noël; Hollier, Clayton (2012-12-01). "Crop losses due to diseases and their implications for global food production losses and food security". Food Security. 4 (4): 519–537. doi:10.1007/s12571-012-0200-5. ISSN 1876-4525. S2CID 3335739.
  5. ^ "Hedge funds accused of gambling with lives of the poorest as food prices soar". The Guardian. 2010-07-18. Retrieved 2020-09-19.
  6. ^ "Food speculation". Global Justice Now. 2014-12-09. Retrieved 2020-09-19.
  7. ^ Spratt, S. (2013). "Food price volatility and financial speculation". FAC Working Paper 47. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.304.5228.
  8. ^ "Food Price Explained". Futures Fundamentals. Retrieved 2020-09-19.
  9. ^ Bellemare, Marc F. (2015). "Rising Food Prices, Food Price Volatility, and Social Unrest". American Journal of Agricultural Economics. 97 (1): 1–21. doi:10.1093/ajae/aau038. hdl:10.1093/ajae/aau038. ISSN 1467-8276. S2CID 34238445.
  10. ^ Perez, Ines. "Climate Change and Rising Food Prices Heightened Arab Spring". Scientific American. Retrieved 2020-09-19.
  11. ^ Winecoff, Ore Koren, W. Kindred (20 May 2020). "Food Price Spikes and Social Unrest: The Dark Side of the Fed's Crisis-Fighting". Foreign Policy. Retrieved 2020-09-19.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  12. ^ Darmon, Nicole; Drewnowski, Adam (2015-10-01). "Contribution of food prices and diet cost to socioeconomic disparities in diet quality and health: a systematic review and analysis". Nutrition Reviews. 73 (10): 643–660. doi:10.1093/nutrit/nuv027. ISSN 0029-6643. PMC 4586446. PMID 26307238.
  13. ^ Darnton-Hill, Ian; Cogill, Bruce (2010-01-01). "Maternal and Young Child Nutrition Adversely Affected by External Shocks Such As Increasing Global Food Prices". The Journal of Nutrition. 140 (1): 162S–169S. doi:10.3945/jn.109.111682. ISSN 0022-3166. PMID 19939995.
  14. ^ "Climate Change: The Unseen Force Behind Rising Food Prices?". World Watch Institute. 2013. Archived from the original on 17 July 2018. Retrieved 7 June 2016.
  15. ^ The State of Food and Agriculture 2019. Moving forward on food loss and waste reduction, In brief. Rome: FAO. 2019. p. 18.
  16. ^ "Summary Findings Food Price Outlook, 2022 and 2023". USDA.