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In 2022, the food price index, which is measured by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), reached its highest level in the last four decadesin line with the inflationary increases that affect the prices of products in the United States.
In its annual measurement, the food price index averaged 143.7 points, 14% more than the 2021 averagewhen notable increases had already been registered in practically all foods.
The FAO measures the world price of food since 1961, but last year, the crisis that unleashed the Russian military invasion of Ukraine the price of basic grains shot upexacerbating the world food crisis.
Russia and Ukraine are two of the largest producers of staple foods, so the military incursion made world grain prices more expensive, such as: wheat, barley, sunflower oil and other products.
According to the FAO, Africa, the Middle East and Asia were the world regions most affected by the global rise in food prices.
Why did food become more expensive?
The war in Ukraine has complicated the supply chains of products that are critical to the world, mainly those that go out through the Black Seawhich in turn contributed to fueling inflation on virtually every planet.
The FAO warned this week that the rise in prices exacerbates poverty and deepens food insecuritymainly in countries whose economies are considered to be developing.
But the war also had an upward effect on the cost of energy and in the supply of fertilizerstwo elements that are key to food production.
The war scenario in Eastern Europe complicated the situation in the nations of the so-called “Horn of Africa”, hard hit by drought.
As a consequence, the prices of wheat and corn reached all-time highs in 2022despite the fact that, in December, the FAO reported a global fall in the price of grains in general.
Other indices that the FAO measures, such as that of vegetable oil, also reached historical prices, while that of Dairy and Meat Prices had their highest peaks since 1990.
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